Germany clinches bank rescue deal
Germany's finance ministry has agreed a 50bn euro ($68bn; £38.7bn) plan to save one of the country's biggest banks.
The deal to save Hypo Real Estate, reached with private banks, is worth 15bn euros more than the first rescue attempt, which fell apart on Saturday.
Germany earlier appeared to announce an unlimited guarantee for private savings and Denmark later followed suit.
Brics slump as investors flee emerging markets
The Bric stock markets crumbled yesterday as investors in emerging market stocks — including Brazil, Russia, India and China — suffered their worst one-day losses in history.
Exchanges in Russia and Brazil halted trading as their benchmark indices plummeted 18 and 10 per cent respectively. India's Sensex index lost nearly 6per cent as foreign investors fled amid fears that a serious global downturn beckons. China's CSI 300 Index lost more than 5per cent, to extend its losses for the year to 60 per cent. Last night the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which tracks bourses from Chile to Jordan, was down more than 8.2 per cent, leaving it poised for its biggest one-day slide on record.
“Foreign funds are panicking,” Deven Choksey, of KR Choksey, the Bombay brokerage, said. The Indian slump has been driven by the exodus of nearly $10 billion (£5.7billion) of overseas money this year as investors seek sanctuary in US Treasury bonds.
U.S. bank failures almost certain to increase in next year
SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Here's a safe bet for uncertain times: A lot of banks won't survive the next year of upheaval despite the U.S. government's $700 billion rescue plan to restore order to the financial industry.
The biggest questions are how many will perish and how they will be put out of their misery, whether it's outright closures by regulators scrambling to preserve the dwindling deposit insurance fund or in fire sales made under government pressure.
Weakened by huge losses on risky home loans, the banking industry is now on the shakiest ground since the early 1990s, when more than 800 federally insured institutions failed in a three-year period. That was during the clean-up phase of a decade-long savings-and-loan meltdown that wound up costing U.S. taxpayers $170 billion to $205 billion, after adjusting for inflation.
The government's commitment to spend up to $700 billion buying bad debts from ailing banks is likely to save some institutions that would have otherwise died, but analysts doubt it will be enough to avert a major shakeout.
"It will help, but it's not going to be the saving grace" because a lot of banks are holding construction loans and other types of deteriorating assets that the government won't take off their books, predicted Stanford Financial analyst Jaret Seiberg. He expects more than 100 banks nationwide to fail next year.
Bank of America Posts Lower Profit, Cuts Dividend
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. will cut its dividend by 50 percent and plans to sell $10 billion in common shares after third-quarter profit fell 68 percent. The stock fell in late trading.
Bank of America profit dropped to $1.18 billion, or 15 cents a share, in the quarter ended Sept. 30, from $3.7 billion, or 82 cents, in the same period last year, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said in a statement.
Financial crisis: Stock market suffers its worst fall in history
The UK stock market has suffered its worst one-day fall in history as the banking crisis intensified.
The FTSE-100 index of Britain's biggest companies dropped by 391.06 points - its steepest ever fall - to end the day down 7.9 per cent.
The FTSE's tumble was mirrored across Europe, as markets in France, Germany, Italy and Spain all recorded heavy falls.
On Wall Street, the panic drove the Dow Jones Industrial Average down through the 10,000 level for the first time in four years.The mild euphoria that greeted the passage of the $700bn bail-out of Wall Street on Friday evaporated as traders digested the more bad news from Europe.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 800 points during the session, slipping below the key psychological level of 10,000 for the first time since 2004.
Now Iceland freezes out British investors as internet bank admits 'We can't safeguard your cash'
More than 200,000 British investors in the internet bank Icesave were last night shut out from a guarantee to protect 100 per cent of their savings.
In a short statement, the Icelandic government said it would fully guarantee deposits in domestic banks.
But heads of Landsbanki, which runs Icesave, admitted that its UK-based savers would not get the same protection for their £4.5billion investments should it go bust.
Asia continues plunge in shares (Tuesday, Oct. 6)
Asian stock markets have opened down sharply amid investor panic that global government action might not be enough to stem the financial crisis.
Japan's Nikkei index plunged more than 5% - shattering the psychological 10,000-point barrier for the first time in nearly five years - before rallying.
Share prices in China, Taiwan and South Korea also dropped. The main US index earlier fell 8% before bouncing back.
EU-Backed Gas Pipeline Needs Iranian Fuel, Minister Nozari Says
Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Iran's gas is an unavoidable source for the Nabucco pipeline project, that will supply fuel from the Caspian Sea region to Europe, Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said.
"The Nabucco project can't be carried out without Iran,'' he told reporters at a gas conference in Tehran today. "Europe will eventually need to turn to Iran.''
The 3,300-kilometer (2,050-mile) pipeline aims to bring gas from the Caspian via Turkey and the Balkans to Western Europe by 2013. The 7.9 billion-euro ($10.9 billion) link is backed by the European Union to reduce energy dependence from Russia.
Such a project needs years to become cost-efficient and Iran is the only country with reserves to supply Europe over an extended period, Nozari said. Iran has the world's second- largest gas reserves.
Iran to start gas exports to Armenia by Oct. 13
TEHRAN -- Iran will start gas exports to Armenia by October 13, the director of the gas export operation office of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said here on Sunday.
“Armenia also started electricity export to Iran on Sunday,” Rasoul Salmani added, IRINN reported. “Iran plans to annually export some 1.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Armenia. In the first phase Iran will export less volume to Armenia but will increase the export volume gradually, and in 2019 will raise it to 2.3 billion cubic meters” he explained.
Pope begins Bible-reading marathon on Italian TV
ROME: Pope Benedict XVI's "In the beginning" started off a weeklong Bible-reading marathon on Italian television Sunday.
RAI state TV began its program called "The Bible Day and Night," with Benedict reciting the first chapter of the book of Genesis — the holy text's opening verses about the creation of the world.
The marathon will feature more than 1,200 people reading the Old and New Testament in over seven days and six nights.
While the pope recited his segment from the Vatican, most of the reading will be done live in Rome's Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, a basilica built in the fourth century.
Besides Roman Catholics, members of other religions, including Jews, Protestants and Orthodox Christians will participate.
What is it about Austria? Why the birthplace of Hitler has just voted for the Far Right
If ever there was an acceptable face of the Far Right in Europe, Mario Miksch is it.
...
Mr Strache insists he is nothing but a patriot and claims some of his best friends are Turkish; but his critics claim that some of his other friends have been neo-fascists, including three Neo-Nazis with whom he was allegedly photographed with in the late 1980s.
Yet while opponents say he is little more than a bovver-boy in a suit, Mr Strache's party polled 18 per cent in last Sunday's parliamentary elections, mainly at the expense of the mainstream Social Democrats and Conservatives, whose ruling coalition is seen to have ignored rising concerns about immigration.
A further 11 per cent of votes went to the Alliance for the Future of Austria, a splinter Far Right party run by Mr Strache's better-known rival, Jörg Haider, who earned similar notoriety a decade ago for professing admiration for the Waffen SS.
Now Austria's two mainstream parties face the unpalatable choice of either forming yet another shaky coalition, or of sharing power with the Far Right.
...
"I used to vote Social Democrat, but I am now voting for the Freedom Party because of the immigrant issue," said one resident, who declined to give his name.
"The Turkish families let their kids play out all night during the summer, and we have to sleep with the windows shut because of the noise, even when it's really hot. Strache is a good guy for at least being honest about immigration - others have just ignored it."
Others fret that white children in local kindergartens are outnumbered by immigrant youngsters. "I have Turkish friends, but my younger kids coming back from kindergarten speaking swear words in Turkish, while the older ones get abused for being Austrian," said Harald Salomon, 35, a removals man.
"The immigrant kids tell them, 'You'd better watch your mouth, because we're in the majority here now.'"
[The people of Austria, and the rest of Europe, have a legitimate problem on their hands. I just don't like where the 'solution' appears headed.--Amanda]
Suicide blast hits Sri Lanka town
A suicide blast in the Sri Lankan town of Anuradhapura has killed at least 27 people, including a former senior general, according to the army.
Maj Gen Janaka Perera, a controversial commander in the Jaffna peninsula in the 1990s, died alongside his wife.
More than 80 people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the United National Party office near a bus depot, officials said.
They blamed the attack on separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.
Gen Perera was the provincial leader of the United National Party (UNP), the country's main opposition party, and a critic of President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government.
33 killed in fighting in northeast India
GUWAHATI, India: At least 33 people were killed and thousands left homeless in violence over the weekend between tribal people and Bangladeshi settlers in northeast India, the police and hospital authorities said.
Violence between members of the Bodo tribe and Muslim immigrants broke out Friday in Rowta in the Udalguri district of Assam State, about 60 miles north of Dispur, the state capital. It then spread to neighboring districts.
The deaths included eight people shot Sunday by the police, who opened fire on rioters.
Villagers from the two groups fought with guns, bows and arrows, machetes and spears. More than 100 were wounded, and 50,000 fled their homes to take refuge in makeshift camps set up by the police.
Bomber targets Pakistan MP's home
At least 17 people have died in a suicide attack on the home of an MP in Pakistan's Punjab province, police say.
Dozens were injured in the bombing, which took place at a reception hosted by MP Rasheed Akbar Nawani.
He is a member of the PML-N party led by former PM Nawaz Sharif. Mr Nawani himself escaped with slight injuries.
Turkish troops bomb northern Iraq after PKK clashes
(CNN) -- The Turkish military bombed PKK rebel targets Saturday in northern Iraq in response to clashes that left at least 15 Turkish troops dead, the PKK and the military said Sunday.
The PKK, or Kurdistan Workers' Party, said it sustained no casualties in the operation.
The Turkish military said the air operation was conducted on the PKK's "hiding positions" in the Avasin-Basyan area of northern Iraq near the border with Turkey.
During the operation, steps were taken to avoid civilian casualties, the Turkish military said.
Suicide bomber strikes in Mosul
Eleven people have been killed during a American raid in the Iraqi city of Mosul in which a suicide bomber blew himself up, the US military says.
Three women and three children were among the dead at the private home, the US military said, adding that five "terrorists" had also died.
However, an official at a local morgue told the BBC most of the dead showed signs of bullet wounds.
Elsewhere in Mosul, four people were killed when gunmen attacked a funeral.
Three other people were wounded in the drive-by attack in the Zanjili district, the BBC's Hugh Sykes reports from Baghdad.
Bomber Strikes During Raid in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Oct. 5 -- A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vest inside a home in northern Iraq as U.S. forces were trading gunfire with its occupants, according to the American military. Eleven Iraqis were killed in the operation early Sunday.
No U.S. casualties were reported in the incident in Mosul, where war continues to rage despite a sharp drop in violence in much of the rest of the country.
28 Somali Emigrant Drown near Shabwa Coasts; 35 More Die Near Taiz’s Dhubab Coast
On Saturday, 35 African refugees died near Dhubab coast of Taiz when their boat flipped over. Only five managed to live the tragedy.
This comes as waves of Somali refugees continue to arrive to Yemen, as the number of refugees trying to enter the country nearly tripled since the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Meanwhile, as Yemenis were celebrating Eid Al-Fitr, Interior Ministry sources revealed that twenty-eight illegal Somali migrants died when their boat capsized off Yemen's southern coasts.
The same sources reported that strong winds and high waves were to blame for the incident. Only 15 corpses have been recovered so far and the number is rising as coastguard and fishermen find more bodies.
Lavrov Calls for Pirate Fight
Russia will work with the United States and European Union to fight piracy off the African coast and wants naval forces gathering in the area to coordinate their efforts, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.
Lavrov's comments signal that momentum is growing for coordinated international action to back up the sharp response after the stunning seizure late last month of a Ukrainian ship with a cargo of 33 Soviet-built tanks and a crew that includes two Russians.
"Russia aims to prevent pirates from causing mayhem," Lavrov said.
He said nations with naval vessels in the area, which include the United States, should work together against piracy.
"It would be useful to coordinate the naval forces that are deployed," Lavrov said, RIA-Novosti reported. "It seems everything is leading to this."
Russia finds unlikely ally in Ukraine's Tymoshenko
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin has struck a tactical alliance with its former foe Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko designed to help her become the next president and help Russia rein in Ukraine's drive to embrace the West.
Tymoshenko and the Kremlin have put aside years of mutual suspicion to unite against Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, the driving force behind Kiev's ambitions to join NATO and Tymoshenko's rival in a bitter struggle for power.
The new warmth was on show on Thursday when Tymoshenko -- who two years ago accused Russia of extorting cash from Ukraine in a row over gas -- had a cordial meeting with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin followed by unscheduled, late-night talks with President Dmitry Medvedev.
"The tactical interests of Moscow and Tymoshenko have coincided. They have the same main opponent and that is Yushchenko," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.
Russia's warships head for exercise with Venezuelan navy
Russia displayed its military strength in the Mediterranean yesterday after warships heading to Venezuela passed through the Strait of Gibraltar in the second deployment of Russian naval vessels in the waterway since the Cold War.
The nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great, accompanied by the Admiral Chabanenko, an anti-submarine destroyer, as well as a reconnaissance vessel and a support ship, are destined for a maritime exercise with the Venezuelan navy.
En route, however, the aim appears to be to demonstrate to the West and Nato that Russia is once again back in business as a blue-water power.
“It's all about strutting your stuff and cocking a snook at the West, in the same way that the Bears [Russian strategic bombers] have been doing since they began patrolling again,” said Andrew Brookes, of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
2 More Christians Murdered in Iraq
MOSUL, Iraq, OCT. 5, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Two Christian men were killed Saturday in Mosul, contributing to a "climate of panic" among the small community there, reports AsiaNews.it.
Hazim Thomaso Youssif, 40, and Ivan Nuwya, 15, were both killed in the Iraqi city, contributing to a long list of attacks against Christians in the war-torn country. Youssif was ambushed in front of his clothing store, and Nuwya was shot to death in front of his home, located near the local mosque of Alzhara.
A source for AsiaNews in Mosul reported that there is a "climate of panic" among the Christian community there, and that the city "has become the holocaust of the Christians."
Iraqi Christians suffer ‘paralyzing fear,’ Archbishop of Baghdad reports
Baghdad, Oct 3, 2008 / 05:43 am (CNA).- Jean Sleiman, the Latin-rite Archbishop of Baghdad, recently spoke to an Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) event in Westminster, England, saying a “paralyzing fear” still grips Iraq’s Christian communities. The archbishop said “very real persecution” remains a threat alongside intense pressure to conform to rigorous Islamic standards, driving many Christians to leave the country.
The archbishop, a Lebanese Carmelite who pastors approximately 5,000 Latin-rite Catholics in Iraq, spoke of the situation in the country before a crowd of more than 400 at the Aid to the Church in Need UK’s annual Westminster Event this past Saturday.
Archbishop Sleiman said most Christians in Iraq still want to leave the country despite the decline of violence in and around Baghdad and the reconstruction efforts in Kurdish areas in the north. He said Baghdad, Mosul, and other regions remained hot-spots of persecution and violence against minority groups.
The Christian population numbered over one million before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, but is now barely 400,000.
The convenient war against the Jews
...
The anti-Semitic belief that all Jews are Zionists and therefore all Jews are fair game in the war against Israel - itself simply another round of the age-old war against the Jews - allows anti-Semites to obfuscate the fact that their anti-Israel rhetoric is simply warmed over Jew-hatred. People like Iranian leaders Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei, and Palestinian terrorists from the PLO and their progeny in Hamas and Hizbullah nearly always limit their threats to "Zionists," and so pretend that they aren't actually anti-Semites.
Their razor-thin deception is eagerly embraced by their fellow travelers in the West - from university professors like Juan Cole, Steven Walt and John Mearshimer, to policymakers like Brent Scowcroft and Zbigniew Brzezinski, to Western decision-makers and European heads of state, and an alarming number of American politicians.
This deception is par for the course of anti-Semitism. Throughout history anti-Semites have used Jew-hatred as a way to rally their troops. By attacking Jews as the collective enemy, tyrants have given their people a convenient, weak culprit to attack to deflect criticism away from their own failures or to hide real enemies from pacifistic publics uninterested in fighting. Anti-Semitism appeals to people's basest instinct. But people don't like to acknowledge how much they hate Jews, and Jews have always preferred to deny that they are hated.
...
NATO chief: I'm not positive Iran can be stopped
In what is seen as a rare statement of support for Israel, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Monday that there was no reason for Israel to surrender its alleged nuclear capabilities in the face of Iran's continued race towards nuclear power.
Speaking at a conference in France, Scheffer said he did not believe the international community would be able to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.
"I am not positive about the world being able to stop Iran from fulfilling its ambitions," he was quoted as saying.
"It is a major challenge to prevent Iran from continuing to strive to get the bomb," Scheffer said, adding that his concern was "that the Security Council, as we speak, is rather incapable of coming to further conclusions on further sanctions."
We can't defeat Taleban, says Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith
The departing commander of British forces in Afghanistan says he believes the Taleban will never be defeated.
Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade, whose troops have suffered severe casualties after six months of tough fighting, will hand over to 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines this month.
He told The Times that in his opinion, a military victory over the Taleban was “neither feasible nor supportable”.
“What we need is sufficient troops to contain the insurgency to a level where it is not a strategic threat to the longevity of the elected Government,” he said.
Law puts thousands of Florida voter IDs in question
Florida's controversial 'no-match' law has already called into question thousands of new voter registrations.
TALLAHASSEE -- About 3,200 new voters are in the cross-hairs of Florida's new and controversial ''no-match'' law, which could force them to cast provisional ballots on Election Day if officials can't confirm their identities.
The law, designed to prevent potential election fraud and remove joke names from voter rolls -- ''Ricco Suave'' and ''Joe Blow'' among them -- requires local elections officials to mail letters to anyone whose registration information doesn't match the state's driver's license or Social Security databases.
Only those who registered after Sept. 8 are affected. Since then, 71,000 new Florida voters have registered through Monday, according to Florida's elections division.
Dubai aims to top its own world's tallest tower
The structure will soar the length of more than 10 American football fields
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - With its world's tallest building nearing completion, Dubai said Sunday it is embarking on an even more ambitious skyscraper: one that will soar the length of more than 10 American football fields.
That's about two-thirds of a mile or the height of more than three of New York's Chrysler Buildings stacked end-to-end.
Babel had nothing on this place.
Police: Jobless father kills family, self
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said.
Authorities said the man had an MBA in finance but appeared to have been unemployed for several months and had worked for major accounting firms, such as Price Waterhouse.
The two-story rented home is in a gated community in Porter Ranch, about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The shootings were discovered after 8:20 a.m. Monday, after a neighbor called police to report that the wife had failed to pick her up to take her to her job at a pharmacy, Deputy Chief of Police Michel Moore said.
Ed Winter, assistant chief from the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, identified the suspect as Karthik Rajaram, 45.
Winter said the victims included Rajaram's mother-in-law, Indra Ramasesham, 69, and his 19-year-old son Krishna Rajaram, a Fulbright Scholar and honor student at UCLA.
Monday, October 06, 2008
Sounds pretty cool! Wanna see footage when it happens.
Rock From Space To Burn Up Over Africa
A very tiny asteroid, not much more than 10 feet across, will enter Earth's atmosphere over Sudan in Africa tonight, October 6-7, 2008, near 2:46 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. Most likely it will burn up before hitting the ground, but it could produce a spectacular fireball, or bolide, in the night sky equivalent to the explosion of about a kiloton of TNT.
These are the assessments of astronomers Andrea Milani of NEODyS in Italy and Steve Chesley (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). They are concerned that eyewitnesses might misinterpret the event as some type of hostile military action. Says Milani, "The earlier the public worldwide is aware that this is a natural phenomenon, which involves no risk, the better."
Meteor Predicted to Hit Earth's Atmosphere Tonight
A meteoroid around the size of a Smart Car is predicted to burn up in Earth's atmosphere over Sudan tonight, marking the first time scientists have made such a forecast. There's no danger from an object this size, but the burn-up could be spectacular for those who witness it.
"A typical meteor comes from an object the size of a grain of sand," Gareth Williams of the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, which made the prediction, said in a statement Monday. Objects this size are what cause the nighttime streaks that many people think of as shooting stars. "This meteor will be a real humdinger in comparison!"
For perspective, the meteoroid that created Meteor Crater in Arizona was probably 150 feet across.
***
Indonesia's Mount Soputan volcano spews smoke 1,000 metres into the air
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A volcano has erupted in central Indonesia, shooting clouds of smoke and flames into the night sky.
Indonesia's volcanology centre says smoke plumes up to a kilometre high are billowing from Mount Soputan on Sulawesi Island, about 2,160 kilometres northeast of Jakarta, the capital.
Rock From Space To Burn Up Over Africa
A very tiny asteroid, not much more than 10 feet across, will enter Earth's atmosphere over Sudan in Africa tonight, October 6-7, 2008, near 2:46 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time. Most likely it will burn up before hitting the ground, but it could produce a spectacular fireball, or bolide, in the night sky equivalent to the explosion of about a kiloton of TNT.
These are the assessments of astronomers Andrea Milani of NEODyS in Italy and Steve Chesley (Jet Propulsion Laboratory). They are concerned that eyewitnesses might misinterpret the event as some type of hostile military action. Says Milani, "The earlier the public worldwide is aware that this is a natural phenomenon, which involves no risk, the better."
Meteor Predicted to Hit Earth's Atmosphere Tonight
A meteoroid around the size of a Smart Car is predicted to burn up in Earth's atmosphere over Sudan tonight, marking the first time scientists have made such a forecast. There's no danger from an object this size, but the burn-up could be spectacular for those who witness it.
"A typical meteor comes from an object the size of a grain of sand," Gareth Williams of the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center, which made the prediction, said in a statement Monday. Objects this size are what cause the nighttime streaks that many people think of as shooting stars. "This meteor will be a real humdinger in comparison!"
For perspective, the meteoroid that created Meteor Crater in Arizona was probably 150 feet across.
***
Indonesia's Mount Soputan volcano spews smoke 1,000 metres into the air
JAKARTA, Indonesia — A volcano has erupted in central Indonesia, shooting clouds of smoke and flames into the night sky.
Indonesia's volcanology centre says smoke plumes up to a kilometre high are billowing from Mount Soputan on Sulawesi Island, about 2,160 kilometres northeast of Jakarta, the capital.
Bailout's gonna save us!
Or not.
Dow falls below 10,000
Blue-chip average falls below the milestone for the first time in nearly 4 years as fears about financial crisis grow.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling below 10,000 for the first time in nearly four years, as European governments' rush to prop up failing financial firms underscored the global reach of the credit crunch.
Credit markets remained tight, with two key measures of bank jitters hitting an all-time high. Treasurys rallied, lowering the corresponding yields as investors sought safety in government debt. Gold rallied for the same reason. Oil dipped. The dollar was mixed versus other major currencies.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost as much as 578 points before pulling back to a 400-point loss, hitting the lowest level during a session since Oct. 25, 2004.
Emerging Market Stocks Fall Most in 2 Decades; Russia Tumbles
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Emerging market stocks fell the most in at least two decades and exchanges in Brazil and Russia were forced to halt trading as the global banking crisis escalated in Europe and oil fell below $90 a barrel.
Brazil's Bovespa index tumbled 15 percent, while Russia's Micex Index plunged nearly 20 percent before trading was halted for a third time today. China's benchmark CSI 300 Index slid 5.1 percent, its biggest one-day decline since August. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia lost the most in at least six years. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slumped 11 percent, the biggest intraday loss since 1987 when Bloomberg records began.
...
Russia's stock market decline along with China and Brazil has pushed the benchmark MSCI emerging market gauge down 47 percent this year, the steepest drop in at least two decades. Stocks included in the index are valued at 9.1 times earnings, the cheapest since 1998, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Investors pulled almost $60 billion out of Russia in the seven weeks after Aug. 8, according to BNP Paribas, as the war in Georgia, falling oil prices and the seizure in international capital markets drove down equities.
The Finance Ministry pledged $44 billion for OAO Sberbank, VTB Group and OAO Gazprombank, the three biggest banks, on Sept. 17 on the understanding the funds would be used to end a seizure in money markets after rates soared to a record 11.1 percent.
Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank, dropped as much as 22 percent, and OAO Gazprom, the country's biggest company and its gas export monopoly, fell 20 percent today.
Or not.
Dow falls below 10,000
Blue-chip average falls below the milestone for the first time in nearly 4 years as fears about financial crisis grow.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks tumbled Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling below 10,000 for the first time in nearly four years, as European governments' rush to prop up failing financial firms underscored the global reach of the credit crunch.
Credit markets remained tight, with two key measures of bank jitters hitting an all-time high. Treasurys rallied, lowering the corresponding yields as investors sought safety in government debt. Gold rallied for the same reason. Oil dipped. The dollar was mixed versus other major currencies.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) lost as much as 578 points before pulling back to a 400-point loss, hitting the lowest level during a session since Oct. 25, 2004.
Emerging Market Stocks Fall Most in 2 Decades; Russia Tumbles
Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Emerging market stocks fell the most in at least two decades and exchanges in Brazil and Russia were forced to halt trading as the global banking crisis escalated in Europe and oil fell below $90 a barrel.
Brazil's Bovespa index tumbled 15 percent, while Russia's Micex Index plunged nearly 20 percent before trading was halted for a third time today. China's benchmark CSI 300 Index slid 5.1 percent, its biggest one-day decline since August. Indonesia and Saudi Arabia lost the most in at least six years. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index slumped 11 percent, the biggest intraday loss since 1987 when Bloomberg records began.
...
Russia's stock market decline along with China and Brazil has pushed the benchmark MSCI emerging market gauge down 47 percent this year, the steepest drop in at least two decades. Stocks included in the index are valued at 9.1 times earnings, the cheapest since 1998, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Investors pulled almost $60 billion out of Russia in the seven weeks after Aug. 8, according to BNP Paribas, as the war in Georgia, falling oil prices and the seizure in international capital markets drove down equities.
The Finance Ministry pledged $44 billion for OAO Sberbank, VTB Group and OAO Gazprombank, the three biggest banks, on Sept. 17 on the understanding the funds would be used to end a seizure in money markets after rates soared to a record 11.1 percent.
Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank, dropped as much as 22 percent, and OAO Gazprom, the country's biggest company and its gas export monopoly, fell 20 percent today.
Earthquake kills at least 72 in Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck the mountains of Central Asia, destroying a village in Kyrgyzstan and killing at least 72 people, emergency officials said Monday.
The 6.6-magnitude quake near the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan hit the remote village of Nura hard, bringing down dozens of buildings and injuring more than 100 people in addition to the confirmed deaths, Emergency Situations Minister Kamchybek Tashiyev said.
"What we've seen is terrible, the village of Nura is completely destroyed — 100 percent," Tashiyev said. "There are many injured and we've counted 60 dead so far, all of them local residents."
Later Monday, Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova said the death toll was 72.
Magnitude 6.3 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 08:30:45 UTC
Magnitude 5.1 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 08:45:07 UTC
Magnitude 5.4 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 12:10:33 UTC
30 die after 2 strong earthquakes hit Tibet
BEIJING (AP) — A pair of strong earthquakes jolted the capital of Tibet and surrounding areas Monday, killing more than 30 people and causing hundreds of houses to collapse, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Rescuers rushed to the scene to try to save an unknown number of people buried under rubble.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first quake measured magnitude 6.6 and struck at 4:30 p.m. (0830 GMT) 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Lhasa, more than 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) away from Beijing.
The second temblor measuring magnitude 5.1 hit about 15 minutes later, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of the Tibetan capital, it said.
Thirty people died and hundreds of houses collapsed in Gedar township near the epicenter in Dangxiong County, and traffic and telecommunications were cut off. An unknown number of people were still trapped under rubble, and soldiers and rescue workers were hurriedly dispatched to the site, Xinhua said.
Deaths were also reported in a neighboring county, the report said, but no figures were available. The Lhasa airport and the Qinghai-Tibet railway — which stretches from western Qinghai province to Tibet — continued to operate, Xinhua said.
Birth pangs.
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) — A powerful earthquake struck the mountains of Central Asia, destroying a village in Kyrgyzstan and killing at least 72 people, emergency officials said Monday.
The 6.6-magnitude quake near the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan hit the remote village of Nura hard, bringing down dozens of buildings and injuring more than 100 people in addition to the confirmed deaths, Emergency Situations Minister Kamchybek Tashiyev said.
"What we've seen is terrible, the village of Nura is completely destroyed — 100 percent," Tashiyev said. "There are many injured and we've counted 60 dead so far, all of them local residents."
Later Monday, Health Ministry spokeswoman Yelena Bayalinova said the death toll was 72.
Magnitude 6.3 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 08:30:45 UTC
Magnitude 5.1 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 08:45:07 UTC
Magnitude 5.4 - EASTERN XIZANG
2008 October 06 12:10:33 UTC
30 die after 2 strong earthquakes hit Tibet
BEIJING (AP) — A pair of strong earthquakes jolted the capital of Tibet and surrounding areas Monday, killing more than 30 people and causing hundreds of houses to collapse, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Rescuers rushed to the scene to try to save an unknown number of people buried under rubble.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first quake measured magnitude 6.6 and struck at 4:30 p.m. (0830 GMT) 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Lhasa, more than 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) away from Beijing.
The second temblor measuring magnitude 5.1 hit about 15 minutes later, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of the Tibetan capital, it said.
Thirty people died and hundreds of houses collapsed in Gedar township near the epicenter in Dangxiong County, and traffic and telecommunications were cut off. An unknown number of people were still trapped under rubble, and soldiers and rescue workers were hurriedly dispatched to the site, Xinhua said.
Deaths were also reported in a neighboring county, the report said, but no figures were available. The Lhasa airport and the Qinghai-Tibet railway — which stretches from western Qinghai province to Tibet — continued to operate, Xinhua said.
Birth pangs.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Magnitude 5.2 - SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
2008 October 03 00:25:27 UTC
Magnitude 5.3 - SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
2008 October 03 03:40:28 UTC
An Earthquake at Southeast of Loyalty Islands
Magnitude 5.0 - CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2008 October 03 05:26:22 UTC
Magnitude 5.2 - CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2008 October 03 05:30:27 UTC
Magnitude 4.6 - JUJUY, ARGENTINA
2008 October 03 16:02:42 UTC
Magnitude 5.5 - ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
2008 October 03 21:20:26 UTC
Earthquake at Andaman Islands, India Region
Quake Hits Southwestern Iran
Magnitude 5.0 - NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2008 October 04 05:41:52 UTC
Magnitude 5.7 - SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
2008 October 04 07:56:52 UTC
Magnitude 5.1 - WEST CHILE RISE
2008 October 04 11:47:06 UTC
Magnitude 3.4 - COLORADO
2008 October 04 12:41:20 UTC
Magnitude 4.7 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008 October 04 12:11:46 UTC
Magnitude 4.8 - ALAMAGAN REG., NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
2008 October 04 13:35:13 UTC
Magnitude 4.9 - NORTHERN COLOMBIA
2008 October 04 14:17:38 UTC
Magnitude 5.5 - KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
2008 October 04 14:50:33 UTC
Russia hit by 4.0-magnitude earthquake
Frequent Quakes Hit Southern Iran
Magnitude 5.2 - LAC KIVU REGION, DEM. REP. OF THE CONGO
2008 October 05 00:02:14 UTC
Magnitude 6.5 - KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
2008 October 05 09:12:40 UTC
Magnitude 5.2 - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
2008 October 05 10:45:00 UTC
Magnitude 5.2 - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
2008 October 05 14:09:50 UTC
Strong quake hits off New Zealand
Magnitude 6.6 - KYRGYZSTAN
2008 October 05 15:52:49 UTC
Strong earthquake hits Central Asia
Magnitude 5.1 - KYRGYZSTAN
2008 October 05 18:27:41 UTC
Magnitude 2.0 - PENNSYLVANIA
2008 October 05 22:36:46 UTC
Magnitude 5.9 - CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN
2008 October 05 22:56:29 UTC
Strong quake hits Afghanistan
Magnitude 5.1 - ORURO, BOLIVIA
2008 October 06 00:18:28 UTC
2008 October 03 00:25:27 UTC
Magnitude 5.3 - SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
2008 October 03 03:40:28 UTC
An Earthquake at Southeast of Loyalty Islands
Magnitude 5.0 - CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2008 October 03 05:26:22 UTC
Magnitude 5.2 - CENTRAL MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2008 October 03 05:30:27 UTC
Magnitude 4.6 - JUJUY, ARGENTINA
2008 October 03 16:02:42 UTC
Magnitude 5.5 - ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
2008 October 03 21:20:26 UTC
Earthquake at Andaman Islands, India Region
Quake Hits Southwestern Iran
Magnitude 5.0 - NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
2008 October 04 05:41:52 UTC
Magnitude 5.7 - SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
2008 October 04 07:56:52 UTC
Magnitude 5.1 - WEST CHILE RISE
2008 October 04 11:47:06 UTC
Magnitude 3.4 - COLORADO
2008 October 04 12:41:20 UTC
Magnitude 4.7 - EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
2008 October 04 12:11:46 UTC
Magnitude 4.8 - ALAMAGAN REG., NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
2008 October 04 13:35:13 UTC
Magnitude 4.9 - NORTHERN COLOMBIA
2008 October 04 14:17:38 UTC
Magnitude 5.5 - KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
2008 October 04 14:50:33 UTC
Russia hit by 4.0-magnitude earthquake
Frequent Quakes Hit Southern Iran
Magnitude 5.2 - LAC KIVU REGION, DEM. REP. OF THE CONGO
2008 October 05 00:02:14 UTC
Magnitude 6.5 - KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND
2008 October 05 09:12:40 UTC
Magnitude 5.2 - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
2008 October 05 10:45:00 UTC
Magnitude 5.2 - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
2008 October 05 14:09:50 UTC
Strong quake hits off New Zealand
Magnitude 6.6 - KYRGYZSTAN
2008 October 05 15:52:49 UTC
Strong earthquake hits Central Asia
Magnitude 5.7 - SOUTHERN XINJIANG, CHINA
2008 October 05 16:11:11 UTC
2008 October 05 16:11:11 UTC
Magnitude 5.1 - KYRGYZSTAN
2008 October 05 18:27:41 UTC
Magnitude 2.0 - PENNSYLVANIA
2008 October 05 22:36:46 UTC
Magnitude 5.9 - CENTRAL AFGHANISTAN
2008 October 05 22:56:29 UTC
Strong quake hits Afghanistan
Magnitude 5.1 - ORURO, BOLIVIA
2008 October 06 00:18:28 UTC
Ministers okay Moscow's property claim
The cabinet on Sunday voted to transfer ownership of Sergei's Courtyard in downtown Jerusalem's Russian Compound to the Russian government.
NGO appeals decision to hand over J'lem compound to Russia
The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday over the government's decision to hand over ownership of the Sergei Courtyard site in Jerusalem to the Russian government.
The non-profit organization claims that by deciding to transfer the site to the Russian government the Olmert administration overstepped its boundaries as an interim government.
The decision to hand over the Sergei Courtyard, which Russia claims was expropriated by Israel without compensation, was meant as a good-will gesture to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the eve of outgoing prime minister Ehud Olemrt's trip to Moscow.
Sergei's Courtyard
...
The courtyard is named for and dominated by a sumptuous guest house constructed in 1890 for aristocratic pilgrims by grand duke Sergei Alexandrovich, then president of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS). Sergei was the son of Tsar Alexander II, brother of the infamous Tsar Alexander III and uncle of the last tsar, Nicholas II.
The entire compound was chartered by the Russians from the Ottomans in 1858 to be used for pilgrim welfare. Then, during World War I, the Turks confiscated the lot.
After the war the British Mandate requisitioned the premises. They came into Israel's possession after independence in 1948.
All the while, White and Red Russian churches vied for the deeds to the courtyard.
In 1964, Israel purchased most of the Russian Compound from the Red Church for $3.5 million worth of oranges. But the Orthodox Palestine Society continued to function in Sergei's Courtyard, which was not included in the "oranges deal." The site became, in effect, a KGB base.
And the picture begins to make a little more sense.
I am a very visual person, so I needed to see where this thing is to understand a little better.
Screenshots from GoogleEarth.
Zoom out a little bit:
The cabinet on Sunday voted to transfer ownership of Sergei's Courtyard in downtown Jerusalem's Russian Compound to the Russian government.
NGO appeals decision to hand over J'lem compound to Russia
The Legal Forum for the Land of Israel petitioned the High Court of Justice on Sunday over the government's decision to hand over ownership of the Sergei Courtyard site in Jerusalem to the Russian government.
The non-profit organization claims that by deciding to transfer the site to the Russian government the Olmert administration overstepped its boundaries as an interim government.
The decision to hand over the Sergei Courtyard, which Russia claims was expropriated by Israel without compensation, was meant as a good-will gesture to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the eve of outgoing prime minister Ehud Olemrt's trip to Moscow.
Sergei's Courtyard
...
The courtyard is named for and dominated by a sumptuous guest house constructed in 1890 for aristocratic pilgrims by grand duke Sergei Alexandrovich, then president of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS). Sergei was the son of Tsar Alexander II, brother of the infamous Tsar Alexander III and uncle of the last tsar, Nicholas II.
The entire compound was chartered by the Russians from the Ottomans in 1858 to be used for pilgrim welfare. Then, during World War I, the Turks confiscated the lot.
After the war the British Mandate requisitioned the premises. They came into Israel's possession after independence in 1948.
All the while, White and Red Russian churches vied for the deeds to the courtyard.
In 1964, Israel purchased most of the Russian Compound from the Red Church for $3.5 million worth of oranges. But the Orthodox Palestine Society continued to function in Sergei's Courtyard, which was not included in the "oranges deal." The site became, in effect, a KGB base.
And the picture begins to make a little more sense.
I am a very visual person, so I needed to see where this thing is to understand a little better.
Screenshots from GoogleEarth.
Zoom out a little bit:
Saturday, October 04, 2008
European leaders agree to £12bn financial crisis rescue package
Gordon Brown has won heavyweight European backing for a £12 billion immediate rescue package for small businesses in peril because of the credit crunch.
The plan to set up a small businesses fund across Europe was supported by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at an emergency European Union summit in Paris
The meeting, to discuss urgent solutions to the economic crisis, saw leaders also look for ways to stop European countries acting unilaterally to guarantee bank deposits, thereby hitting their neighbours’ economies.
The meeting of the four EU nations belonging to the G8 group of industrialised countries — France, Germany, the UK and Italy — as well as the head of the European Central Bank and the president of the European Commission was called by Mr Sarkozy, the French president, who holds the EU presidency.
Suspected Al Qaeda Mastermind Behind Baghdad Bombings Killed
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says it has killed a senior Al Qaeda in Iraq leader suspected of masterminding deadly bombings in Baghdad.
The military says U.S. troops acting in self-defense also killed his wife in Friday's firefight.
Saturday's statement identifies the man killed as Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu' al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami.
Zimbabwe on the brink of new crisis as food runs out
Six months after the elections, Zimbabwe still lacks a functioning government and is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Following the worst wheat harvest since the independence war, bread has run out and sugar supplies are set to follow. USAid, the American government humanitarian agency, is warning that the country could run out of the maize, the staple food, by next month. Farming officials say the government's stated aim of producing maize on 500,000 hectares this season is unattainable.
'We are in serious trouble,' said Jabulani Gwaringa, of the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU), which represents small-scale operators. 'There is no seed, fertiliser and crop chemicals on the market. Banks are not offering farmers any credit. In July we had produced about 25,000 metric tons of seed maize. We are down to 9,000 because farmers opted to eat their hybrid seed or sell it to millers.'
Gordon Brown has won heavyweight European backing for a £12 billion immediate rescue package for small businesses in peril because of the credit crunch.
The plan to set up a small businesses fund across Europe was supported by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at an emergency European Union summit in Paris
The meeting, to discuss urgent solutions to the economic crisis, saw leaders also look for ways to stop European countries acting unilaterally to guarantee bank deposits, thereby hitting their neighbours’ economies.
The meeting of the four EU nations belonging to the G8 group of industrialised countries — France, Germany, the UK and Italy — as well as the head of the European Central Bank and the president of the European Commission was called by Mr Sarkozy, the French president, who holds the EU presidency.
Suspected Al Qaeda Mastermind Behind Baghdad Bombings Killed
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says it has killed a senior Al Qaeda in Iraq leader suspected of masterminding deadly bombings in Baghdad.
The military says U.S. troops acting in self-defense also killed his wife in Friday's firefight.
Saturday's statement identifies the man killed as Mahir Ahmad Mahmud Judu' al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Assad or Abu Rami.
Zimbabwe on the brink of new crisis as food runs out
Six months after the elections, Zimbabwe still lacks a functioning government and is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Following the worst wheat harvest since the independence war, bread has run out and sugar supplies are set to follow. USAid, the American government humanitarian agency, is warning that the country could run out of the maize, the staple food, by next month. Farming officials say the government's stated aim of producing maize on 500,000 hectares this season is unattainable.
'We are in serious trouble,' said Jabulani Gwaringa, of the Zimbabwe Farmers' Union (ZFU), which represents small-scale operators. 'There is no seed, fertiliser and crop chemicals on the market. Banks are not offering farmers any credit. In July we had produced about 25,000 metric tons of seed maize. We are down to 9,000 because farmers opted to eat their hybrid seed or sell it to millers.'
Gasoline shortage persists in Southeast
Three weeks after hurricanes blew out the power to Gulf Coast refineries, gasoline still is in short supply in Knoxville and many Southeast cities, forcing one Knoxville company to advise its Atlanta office staff to work from home to keep from driving on empty.
Knoxville gas retailers and wholesalers have received intermittent shipments of gas and diesel through the Colonial and Plantation pipelines serving the area, but many locations continue to be low or completely out of some or all grades. Local gas wholesalers and retailers expect gas supplies to return to normal by the end of October.
[I've not had probelms, but I've heard from friends who have.--Amanda]
U.S.-Syria talks may be step toward thaw
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and Syria held a series of meetings this week, signaling a possible thaw between the two countries as the former seeks to peel the latter from its close ties with Iran.
No further meetings are planned between the two sides, said several senior State Department officials, who downplayed the expectations of a major breakthrough.
"You can't tell yet," one of the officials said. "It gave us a chance to raise our concerns directly, but the results will depend on what we see on the ground."
Syria denies UN nuclear watchdog access to military sites
Syria said on Friday it was cooperating fully with a UN inquiry into its nuclear activity but would not go as far as opening up military sites because this would undermine its national security.
Diplomats say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has asked to examine several Syrian military installations, but the comments from Damascus clearly ruled this out.
The Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog has been probing Syria since May over U.S. intelligence allegations that it almost built a secret, plutonium-producing reactor before Israel destroyed the site in an air strike a year ago.
Syria - an ally of Iran, which is the subject of a much longer-running, and now stalled, IAEA investigation - has denied having a clandestine nuclear program.
U.S. strategy in Afghanistan will fail, leaked cable says
PARIS: A coded French diplomatic cable leaked to a French newspaper quotes the British ambassador in Afghanistan as predicting that the NATO-led military campaign against the Taliban will fail. Not only that, but the best solution for the country will be the installation of an "acceptable dictator," the British envoy reportedly added.
"The current situation is bad, the security situation is getting worse, so is corruption, and the government has lost all trust," Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British envoy is quoted by Jean-François Fitou, the deputy French ambassador to Kabul and the author of the cable, as saying.
The two-page cable - which was sent to the Élysée Palace and the French Foreign Ministry on Sept. 2, and was leaked to the investigative and satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné, which printed excerpts in its Wednesday edition - said that the NATO-led military presence was making it harder to stabilize the country.
[newsflash! French want to give up. Details at 11.--Amanda]
UN General Assembly chief: Some Security Council members worse than Iran
Some members of the United Nations Security Council have done things "infinitely worse" than Iran, which is seeking a seat on the council, the president of the UN General Assembly said on Friday.
Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, who was foreign minister in the left-wing Sandinista government that ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990, was asked whether he thought Iran should be on the 15-nation Security Council when the country is under UN sanctions over its nuclear program.
"There are members of the Security Council right now who have done things infinitely worse than Iran could ever do," D'Escoto told a news conference.
When asked who he was referring to, D'Escoto, who has a history of criticizing U.S. administrations, quoted a Spanish saying: "For those who have the power of understanding, you need only a few words."
Blast Near Russian Base In South Ossetia Kills Seven
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Seven Russian peacekeepers were killed and seven others wounded when a car filled with explosives blew up near their base in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, Russian news agencies reported.
They quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry source as laying the blame on unspecified forces "seeking to destabilize the situation" -- accusations clearly aimed at Tbilisi, which quickly denied it.
"Seven servicemen died, another seven were wounded," Interfax news agency quoted the peacekeepers' commander, Major General Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying.
Belarus Accepts EU Invite To October Talks
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- The European Union has invited Belarusian Foreign Minister Syarhey Martynau to rare talks with EU counterparts this month, an EU spokeswoman has said.
"[EU foreign-policy chief] Javier Solana invited him to come in a phone conversation they had this morning," Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said, adding that the minister had accepted.
Russia to stage largest air force war games since Soviet times
Russia will stage its largest air force war games since Soviet times next week in the latest stage of the Kremlin's strategy to show off the country as a military superpower reborn.
Their progress watched closely by increasingly jittery western militaries, dozens of nuclear bombers will take part in the exercise. Tu-95 Bear bombers will fire cruise missiles at targets in sub-Arctic Russia for the first time since 1984.
While Russia insists that the war games are not meant as a gesture of aggression, the West is growing increasingly uneasy about the scale of the manoeuvres.
The aerial exercises, which will take place close to American airspace in Alaska, are part of a month-long war game known as Stability 2008 that Russia claims is the biggest for 20 years.
Montenegro Split Over Kosovo, Protests Threatened
PODGORICA (Reuters) -- Montenegro's parliament has passed a resolution that the opposition sees as a first step towards recognizing the independence of Kosovo, a sharply divisive issue in the former Yugoslav republic.
Opposition pro-Serbian parties said they would call on their followers to stage street protests if parliament recognizes Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February.
"You have a historical responsibility to decide whether you will preserve the dignity of Montenegro or stab a bloody knife in the back of sister Serbia," Amfilohije Radovic, Serbian Orthodox bishop in Montenegro, said in a letter to President Filip Vujanovic.
The text of the ruling coalition's resolution on "the necessity to speed up the processes of joining the European Union and NATO" says it will "serve as a guideline for the country's policy on the Kosovo issue."
N Korea 'restoring nuclear plant'
North Korea has continued to restore its disabled nuclear reactor, the US has said, despite the attempt of a top US envoy to persuade it not to do so.
North Korea is moving equipment it had put into storage back to the Yongbyon reactor, the US State Department said.
The US envoy, Christopher Hill, ended a visit to North Korea saying talks had been substantive, but gave few details.
North Korea has recently gone back on an aid-for-disarmament deal, saying the US has failed to meet its obligations.
'Abbas to meet with Assad in Damascus'
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to visit Damascus in a week and a half, Army Radio reported Friday.
According to a senior official in the PA, Abbas is expected to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The two are slated to discuss recent indirect talks between Syria and Israel, as well as a possible rapprochement with Hamas.
The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.
Meanwhile, MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL) told the Reuters news agency that Abbas is already holding secret talks with Assad, and that the two leaders were working to coordinate policies on diplomatic issues.
Military to split Nigerian town
The military has been called in to help split up a town in south-east Nigeria after bloody clashes between two communities, the state government says.
A curfew has been declared for three months while hundreds of families are separated and resettled.
Other attempts to prevent people from the Ezza and Ezillo communities in Ebonyi State fighting over land rights have failed, the authorities said.
At least 18 people have been killed over the last five months.
Indian PM to visit Japan for nuclear talks: official
TOKYO (AFP) — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Japan this month for talks on nuclear energy cooperation and a free-trade deal as the two countries expand ties, officials said Friday.
Singh will meet with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso and have an audience with Emperor Akihito during his October 21-23 visit, a Japanese foreign ministry statement said.
Aso, a former foreign minister who became Prime Minister last week, is a strong supporter of cementing Japan's relationship with fellow democracy India, partly to balance Tokyo's often uneasy ties with China.
Singh is expected to discuss nuclear energy issues in Japan, which reluctantly backed a nuclear technology deal between India and the United States despite New Delhi's refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
India stampede death toll rises
An enquiry into a stampede at a Hindu temple in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan on Tuesday has revealed that 224 people were killed.
Earlier figures had put the number of dead to be around 147 people.
Officials say the higher number has emerged because fatality figures from five hospitals dealing with the tragedy have only just been compiled.
Army bombs headquarters of rebels in Sri Lanka
NEW DELHI: The Sri Lankan military appeared close to making its final push on rebel territory on Thursday, as its air force's jets pounded the headquarters of the country's guerrilla group.
Both sides, which routinely provide conflicting accounts of clashes, agreed roughly on what happened. It signaled a turning point in the prolonged conflict.
The guerrilla group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, said in a statement that its peace secretariat, which was its main political office, was bombed around midday. The Sri Lankan military confirmed the strike as well, with the defense secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, reporting that ground troops were three miles from the rebel headquarters, in the northern town of Kilinochhi.
"It is the beginning of the end of LTTE terrorists," Rajapaksa said.
Taiwanese 'brawl' over bad milk
Taiwan's health minister has been admitted to hospital after being allegedly attacked by opposition MPs over the tainted Chinese milk scandal.
Yeh Ching-chuan was pushed around and grabbed by the neck as he tried to leave parliament, according to lawmakers from the governing party.
Hospital staff say he suffered heart palpitations and dizziness.
The opposition, which is angry at the government's response to the milk scandal, denies its MPs attacked him.
Tainted milk from China turning up worldwide
Russian food inspectors have found nearly two tons of Chinese dry milk believed to be contaminated with melamine, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Friday, the same day that the list of tainted products grew in other nations as well.
ITAR-Tass quoted Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko, as saying that the milk was seized in the eastern city of Khabarovsk, on the Chinese border.
The Vietnamese Health Ministry has discovered the industrial chemical in 18 food products imported from China and three other countries, and has ordered them recalled and destroyed, officials said Friday.
And health officials in the Philippines found melamine in 2 of 30 milk products from China tested for the chemical. The Philippine government had halted imports and sales of Chinese milk products pending inspections last week.
Australian food regulators recalled Chinese-made Kirin Milk Tea after tests found that the drink contained melamine. It is the fourth product withdrawn from the country's stores as a result of the tainted-milk scandal.
Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil
A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear a full veil, or niqab, that reveals only one eye.
Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive.
Bush to sell Taiwan $6 billion in arms
WASHINGTON: The Bush administration announced plans Friday to sell $6 billion in arms to Taiwan, a decision sure to anger China and one that could complicate stalled North Korean disarmament efforts.
The announcement of the package, which includes Apache helicopters and Patriot III anti-missile missiles, came in a notification to Congress posted on the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency Web site. The State Department said lawmakers, who were expected to leave Friday to campaign for November elections, had 30 days to comment on the proposed sale. Without objections, the deal is completed.
The arms package enjoys support among senior lawmakers. China, however, vehemently opposes the U.S. provision of weapons to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory and has threatened to invade should the self-governing island ever formalize its de facto independence.
Iraq: Government takes command of Sons of Iraq
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government took command Wednesday of thousands of US-backed mostly Sunni fighters who turned against al-Qaida, pledging to integrate them into public life in recognition of their help in quelling violence.
About 100,000 fighters, known as Sons of Iraq or Awakening Councils, had been under US military supervision and were paid by the Americans for the last two years.
The fighters came under Iraqi military control Wednesday and will receive their first payments from the government in November. Over time, the government plans to find them jobs in the army, police or elsewhere in the public sector.
Power shortage haunts India as nuclear deal cleared
Power outages that stretch hours are a regular event in Shaila Kapoor's life in a smart suburb of energy-hungry India's national capital.
"It's a nightmare," said Kapoor, a teacher. "We've power back-up (from a battery) but it doesn't last long and then we either literally drip from the heat or drive to a mall."
India's massive electricity crunch is a key reason why the government said it was determined to go ahead with a controversial civilian nuclear technology pact with Washington that was cleared by the US Congress and Senate this week.
The deal's approval was the icing on the cake for India after the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted an embargo on civilian atomic trade with the country last month.
BHPB blames power shortages for drop in SA production
BHP Billiton said power shortages in South Africa had caused a decline of 8.2% in total production at its three aluminium smelters.
The three smelters, two in South Africa and one in neighbouring Mozambique have a combined capacity of some 1.43Mt, or about 3.7% of world output.
US Military: Iraqi Killed in Helicopter Collision
US military: 2 Black Hawks collided while landing in northern Baghdad, killing 1 Iraqi
Two U.S. helicopters collided while landing at a base in Baghdad on Saturday, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding four people, including two Americans, the military said. It was the second helicopter crash in two weeks.
The U.S. military said hostile fire did not appear to be the cause.
Also Saturday, the military said it killed an al-Qaida in Iraq leader suspected of masterminding one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad, several other recent bombings and the 2006 videotaped killing of a Russian official.
Cabinet votes today on Russia's claim to Jerusalem property
At Sunday's meeting the cabinet will discuss a proposal to transfer ownership of Sergei's Courtyard in downtown Jerusalem's Russian Compound to the Russian government.
The proposed move is the culmination of four years of negotiations, after then-Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is currently his country's prime minister, laid claim to the site on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Sergei's Courtyard currently houses offices of the Agriculture Ministry and the Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, and the Jerusalem branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.
On Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will begin a two-day trip to Moscow. Israeli officials expect the Russians to raise the question of the transfer of Russian church property in Jerusalem.
U.S. Navy Says Surrounded Somali Pirates Attempt Four Attacks in 24 Hours
MOGADISHU, Somalia — There have been four failed pirate attacks in the last 24 hours off the lawless Somali coast despite the presence of six American warships guarding a hijacked ship full of weapons, a U.S. navy spokeswoman said today.
Navy Commander Jane Campbell, from the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, says three attacks were averted because crew members escaped at high speed.
Another attack was foiled because the pirates were badly prepared: The ladder they had brought to climb onto the ship was too short.
["Ha ha!"/Nelson --Amanda]
Tiger kills railway employee in Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow, Oct 4 (IANS) A tiger killed a railway employee and mauled two others in Uttar Pradesh Saturday, an official said.
...
The animal attacked and killed the employee about one kilometre away from the railway station when he was returning home after work, the official said.
The big cat also injured two people, who tried to rescue the employee from its claws.
Christianity spreads by 'house churches' in China
Zhao Xiao, a former Communist Party official and convert to Christianity, smiles over a cup of tea and says he thinks there are up to 130 million Christians in China. This is far larger than previous estimates.
The government says there are 21 million (16 million Protestants, 5 million Catholics). Unofficial figures, such as one given by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in Massachusetts, put the number at about 70 million.
But Zhao is not alone in his reckoning. A study of China by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, an American think tank, says indirect survey evidence suggests many unaffiliated Christians are not in the official figures.
And according to China Aid Association, a Texas-based lobby group, the director of the government body that supervises all religions in China, said privately that the figure was indeed as much as 130 million in early 2008.
***
[How come hurricanes never turn up anything neat for me? --Amanda]
Big fossil found in Ike-ravaged home’s front yard
CAPLEN, Texas — A homeowner whose beachfront property in Texas was destroyed during Hurricane Ike has found a football-size fossil tooth in the debris.
Dorothy Sisk asked her colleague, Lamar University paleontologist Jim Westgate, to accompany her to her Bolivar Peninsula home after Ike hit. Together they found something unusual in the remains of Sisk’s front yard: a six-pound fossil tooth.
Three weeks after hurricanes blew out the power to Gulf Coast refineries, gasoline still is in short supply in Knoxville and many Southeast cities, forcing one Knoxville company to advise its Atlanta office staff to work from home to keep from driving on empty.
Knoxville gas retailers and wholesalers have received intermittent shipments of gas and diesel through the Colonial and Plantation pipelines serving the area, but many locations continue to be low or completely out of some or all grades. Local gas wholesalers and retailers expect gas supplies to return to normal by the end of October.
[I've not had probelms, but I've heard from friends who have.--Amanda]
U.S.-Syria talks may be step toward thaw
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and Syria held a series of meetings this week, signaling a possible thaw between the two countries as the former seeks to peel the latter from its close ties with Iran.
No further meetings are planned between the two sides, said several senior State Department officials, who downplayed the expectations of a major breakthrough.
"You can't tell yet," one of the officials said. "It gave us a chance to raise our concerns directly, but the results will depend on what we see on the ground."
Syria denies UN nuclear watchdog access to military sites
Syria said on Friday it was cooperating fully with a UN inquiry into its nuclear activity but would not go as far as opening up military sites because this would undermine its national security.
Diplomats say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has asked to examine several Syrian military installations, but the comments from Damascus clearly ruled this out.
The Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog has been probing Syria since May over U.S. intelligence allegations that it almost built a secret, plutonium-producing reactor before Israel destroyed the site in an air strike a year ago.
Syria - an ally of Iran, which is the subject of a much longer-running, and now stalled, IAEA investigation - has denied having a clandestine nuclear program.
U.S. strategy in Afghanistan will fail, leaked cable says
PARIS: A coded French diplomatic cable leaked to a French newspaper quotes the British ambassador in Afghanistan as predicting that the NATO-led military campaign against the Taliban will fail. Not only that, but the best solution for the country will be the installation of an "acceptable dictator," the British envoy reportedly added.
"The current situation is bad, the security situation is getting worse, so is corruption, and the government has lost all trust," Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British envoy is quoted by Jean-François Fitou, the deputy French ambassador to Kabul and the author of the cable, as saying.
The two-page cable - which was sent to the Élysée Palace and the French Foreign Ministry on Sept. 2, and was leaked to the investigative and satirical weekly Le Canard Enchaîné, which printed excerpts in its Wednesday edition - said that the NATO-led military presence was making it harder to stabilize the country.
[newsflash! French want to give up. Details at 11.--Amanda]
UN General Assembly chief: Some Security Council members worse than Iran
Some members of the United Nations Security Council have done things "infinitely worse" than Iran, which is seeking a seat on the council, the president of the UN General Assembly said on Friday.
Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, who was foreign minister in the left-wing Sandinista government that ruled Nicaragua from 1979-1990, was asked whether he thought Iran should be on the 15-nation Security Council when the country is under UN sanctions over its nuclear program.
"There are members of the Security Council right now who have done things infinitely worse than Iran could ever do," D'Escoto told a news conference.
When asked who he was referring to, D'Escoto, who has a history of criticizing U.S. administrations, quoted a Spanish saying: "For those who have the power of understanding, you need only a few words."
Blast Near Russian Base In South Ossetia Kills Seven
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Seven Russian peacekeepers were killed and seven others wounded when a car filled with explosives blew up near their base in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, Russian news agencies reported.
They quoted a Russian Foreign Ministry source as laying the blame on unspecified forces "seeking to destabilize the situation" -- accusations clearly aimed at Tbilisi, which quickly denied it.
"Seven servicemen died, another seven were wounded," Interfax news agency quoted the peacekeepers' commander, Major General Marat Kulakhmetov, as saying.
Belarus Accepts EU Invite To October Talks
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- The European Union has invited Belarusian Foreign Minister Syarhey Martynau to rare talks with EU counterparts this month, an EU spokeswoman has said.
"[EU foreign-policy chief] Javier Solana invited him to come in a phone conversation they had this morning," Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said, adding that the minister had accepted.
Russia to stage largest air force war games since Soviet times
Russia will stage its largest air force war games since Soviet times next week in the latest stage of the Kremlin's strategy to show off the country as a military superpower reborn.
Their progress watched closely by increasingly jittery western militaries, dozens of nuclear bombers will take part in the exercise. Tu-95 Bear bombers will fire cruise missiles at targets in sub-Arctic Russia for the first time since 1984.
While Russia insists that the war games are not meant as a gesture of aggression, the West is growing increasingly uneasy about the scale of the manoeuvres.
The aerial exercises, which will take place close to American airspace in Alaska, are part of a month-long war game known as Stability 2008 that Russia claims is the biggest for 20 years.
Montenegro Split Over Kosovo, Protests Threatened
PODGORICA (Reuters) -- Montenegro's parliament has passed a resolution that the opposition sees as a first step towards recognizing the independence of Kosovo, a sharply divisive issue in the former Yugoslav republic.
Opposition pro-Serbian parties said they would call on their followers to stage street protests if parliament recognizes Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in February.
"You have a historical responsibility to decide whether you will preserve the dignity of Montenegro or stab a bloody knife in the back of sister Serbia," Amfilohije Radovic, Serbian Orthodox bishop in Montenegro, said in a letter to President Filip Vujanovic.
The text of the ruling coalition's resolution on "the necessity to speed up the processes of joining the European Union and NATO" says it will "serve as a guideline for the country's policy on the Kosovo issue."
N Korea 'restoring nuclear plant'
North Korea has continued to restore its disabled nuclear reactor, the US has said, despite the attempt of a top US envoy to persuade it not to do so.
North Korea is moving equipment it had put into storage back to the Yongbyon reactor, the US State Department said.
The US envoy, Christopher Hill, ended a visit to North Korea saying talks had been substantive, but gave few details.
North Korea has recently gone back on an aid-for-disarmament deal, saying the US has failed to meet its obligations.
'Abbas to meet with Assad in Damascus'
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is planning to visit Damascus in a week and a half, Army Radio reported Friday.
According to a senior official in the PA, Abbas is expected to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad. The two are slated to discuss recent indirect talks between Syria and Israel, as well as a possible rapprochement with Hamas.
The Jerusalem Post could not confirm the report.
Meanwhile, MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL) told the Reuters news agency that Abbas is already holding secret talks with Assad, and that the two leaders were working to coordinate policies on diplomatic issues.
Military to split Nigerian town
The military has been called in to help split up a town in south-east Nigeria after bloody clashes between two communities, the state government says.
A curfew has been declared for three months while hundreds of families are separated and resettled.
Other attempts to prevent people from the Ezza and Ezillo communities in Ebonyi State fighting over land rights have failed, the authorities said.
At least 18 people have been killed over the last five months.
Indian PM to visit Japan for nuclear talks: official
TOKYO (AFP) — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Japan this month for talks on nuclear energy cooperation and a free-trade deal as the two countries expand ties, officials said Friday.
Singh will meet with his Japanese counterpart Taro Aso and have an audience with Emperor Akihito during his October 21-23 visit, a Japanese foreign ministry statement said.
Aso, a former foreign minister who became Prime Minister last week, is a strong supporter of cementing Japan's relationship with fellow democracy India, partly to balance Tokyo's often uneasy ties with China.
Singh is expected to discuss nuclear energy issues in Japan, which reluctantly backed a nuclear technology deal between India and the United States despite New Delhi's refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
India stampede death toll rises
An enquiry into a stampede at a Hindu temple in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan on Tuesday has revealed that 224 people were killed.
Earlier figures had put the number of dead to be around 147 people.
Officials say the higher number has emerged because fatality figures from five hospitals dealing with the tragedy have only just been compiled.
Army bombs headquarters of rebels in Sri Lanka
NEW DELHI: The Sri Lankan military appeared close to making its final push on rebel territory on Thursday, as its air force's jets pounded the headquarters of the country's guerrilla group.
Both sides, which routinely provide conflicting accounts of clashes, agreed roughly on what happened. It signaled a turning point in the prolonged conflict.
The guerrilla group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, said in a statement that its peace secretariat, which was its main political office, was bombed around midday. The Sri Lankan military confirmed the strike as well, with the defense secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, reporting that ground troops were three miles from the rebel headquarters, in the northern town of Kilinochhi.
"It is the beginning of the end of LTTE terrorists," Rajapaksa said.
Taiwanese 'brawl' over bad milk
Taiwan's health minister has been admitted to hospital after being allegedly attacked by opposition MPs over the tainted Chinese milk scandal.
Yeh Ching-chuan was pushed around and grabbed by the neck as he tried to leave parliament, according to lawmakers from the governing party.
Hospital staff say he suffered heart palpitations and dizziness.
The opposition, which is angry at the government's response to the milk scandal, denies its MPs attacked him.
Tainted milk from China turning up worldwide
Russian food inspectors have found nearly two tons of Chinese dry milk believed to be contaminated with melamine, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported Friday, the same day that the list of tainted products grew in other nations as well.
ITAR-Tass quoted Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko, as saying that the milk was seized in the eastern city of Khabarovsk, on the Chinese border.
The Vietnamese Health Ministry has discovered the industrial chemical in 18 food products imported from China and three other countries, and has ordered them recalled and destroyed, officials said Friday.
And health officials in the Philippines found melamine in 2 of 30 milk products from China tested for the chemical. The Philippine government had halted imports and sales of Chinese milk products pending inspections last week.
Australian food regulators recalled Chinese-made Kirin Milk Tea after tests found that the drink contained melamine. It is the fourth product withdrawn from the country's stores as a result of the tainted-milk scandal.
Saudi cleric favours one-eye veil
A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear a full veil, or niqab, that reveals only one eye.
Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive.
Bush to sell Taiwan $6 billion in arms
WASHINGTON: The Bush administration announced plans Friday to sell $6 billion in arms to Taiwan, a decision sure to anger China and one that could complicate stalled North Korean disarmament efforts.
The announcement of the package, which includes Apache helicopters and Patriot III anti-missile missiles, came in a notification to Congress posted on the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency Web site. The State Department said lawmakers, who were expected to leave Friday to campaign for November elections, had 30 days to comment on the proposed sale. Without objections, the deal is completed.
The arms package enjoys support among senior lawmakers. China, however, vehemently opposes the U.S. provision of weapons to Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory and has threatened to invade should the self-governing island ever formalize its de facto independence.
Iraq: Government takes command of Sons of Iraq
Iraq's Shi'ite-led government took command Wednesday of thousands of US-backed mostly Sunni fighters who turned against al-Qaida, pledging to integrate them into public life in recognition of their help in quelling violence.
About 100,000 fighters, known as Sons of Iraq or Awakening Councils, had been under US military supervision and were paid by the Americans for the last two years.
The fighters came under Iraqi military control Wednesday and will receive their first payments from the government in November. Over time, the government plans to find them jobs in the army, police or elsewhere in the public sector.
Power shortage haunts India as nuclear deal cleared
Power outages that stretch hours are a regular event in Shaila Kapoor's life in a smart suburb of energy-hungry India's national capital.
"It's a nightmare," said Kapoor, a teacher. "We've power back-up (from a battery) but it doesn't last long and then we either literally drip from the heat or drive to a mall."
India's massive electricity crunch is a key reason why the government said it was determined to go ahead with a controversial civilian nuclear technology pact with Washington that was cleared by the US Congress and Senate this week.
The deal's approval was the icing on the cake for India after the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted an embargo on civilian atomic trade with the country last month.
BHPB blames power shortages for drop in SA production
BHP Billiton said power shortages in South Africa had caused a decline of 8.2% in total production at its three aluminium smelters.
The three smelters, two in South Africa and one in neighbouring Mozambique have a combined capacity of some 1.43Mt, or about 3.7% of world output.
US Military: Iraqi Killed in Helicopter Collision
US military: 2 Black Hawks collided while landing in northern Baghdad, killing 1 Iraqi
Two U.S. helicopters collided while landing at a base in Baghdad on Saturday, killing one Iraqi soldier and wounding four people, including two Americans, the military said. It was the second helicopter crash in two weeks.
The U.S. military said hostile fire did not appear to be the cause.
Also Saturday, the military said it killed an al-Qaida in Iraq leader suspected of masterminding one of the deadliest attacks in Baghdad, several other recent bombings and the 2006 videotaped killing of a Russian official.
Cabinet votes today on Russia's claim to Jerusalem property
At Sunday's meeting the cabinet will discuss a proposal to transfer ownership of Sergei's Courtyard in downtown Jerusalem's Russian Compound to the Russian government.
The proposed move is the culmination of four years of negotiations, after then-Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is currently his country's prime minister, laid claim to the site on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Sergei's Courtyard currently houses offices of the Agriculture Ministry and the Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, and the Jerusalem branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.
On Monday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will begin a two-day trip to Moscow. Israeli officials expect the Russians to raise the question of the transfer of Russian church property in Jerusalem.
U.S. Navy Says Surrounded Somali Pirates Attempt Four Attacks in 24 Hours
MOGADISHU, Somalia — There have been four failed pirate attacks in the last 24 hours off the lawless Somali coast despite the presence of six American warships guarding a hijacked ship full of weapons, a U.S. navy spokeswoman said today.
Navy Commander Jane Campbell, from the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, says three attacks were averted because crew members escaped at high speed.
Another attack was foiled because the pirates were badly prepared: The ladder they had brought to climb onto the ship was too short.
["Ha ha!"/Nelson --Amanda]
Tiger kills railway employee in Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow, Oct 4 (IANS) A tiger killed a railway employee and mauled two others in Uttar Pradesh Saturday, an official said.
...
The animal attacked and killed the employee about one kilometre away from the railway station when he was returning home after work, the official said.
The big cat also injured two people, who tried to rescue the employee from its claws.
Christianity spreads by 'house churches' in China
Zhao Xiao, a former Communist Party official and convert to Christianity, smiles over a cup of tea and says he thinks there are up to 130 million Christians in China. This is far larger than previous estimates.
The government says there are 21 million (16 million Protestants, 5 million Catholics). Unofficial figures, such as one given by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in Massachusetts, put the number at about 70 million.
But Zhao is not alone in his reckoning. A study of China by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, an American think tank, says indirect survey evidence suggests many unaffiliated Christians are not in the official figures.
And according to China Aid Association, a Texas-based lobby group, the director of the government body that supervises all religions in China, said privately that the figure was indeed as much as 130 million in early 2008.
***
[How come hurricanes never turn up anything neat for me? --Amanda]
Big fossil found in Ike-ravaged home’s front yard
CAPLEN, Texas — A homeowner whose beachfront property in Texas was destroyed during Hurricane Ike has found a football-size fossil tooth in the debris.
Dorothy Sisk asked her colleague, Lamar University paleontologist Jim Westgate, to accompany her to her Bolivar Peninsula home after Ike hit. Together they found something unusual in the remains of Sisk’s front yard: a six-pound fossil tooth.
Bailout is law
President Bush signs historic $700 billion plan aimed at stemming credit crisis.
That's 700, 000, 000, 000 AT ONE TIME. Nothing to say how many times this can be done, no expiration date. N_O_T_H_I_N_G.
House Roll Call: How they voted on bailout bill
U.S. Stocks Drop as Recession Concern Outweighs Bailout Passage
Now, wait a minute. Weren't we told the real reason we needed the bailout was not just to rescue these companies, but to reassure investors and stop the stock market from sliding?
Wells Fargo, not Citi, to buy Wachovia
California May Ask U.S. for Loan
159,000 Jobs Lost in September, the Worst Month in Five Years
President Bush signs historic $700 billion plan aimed at stemming credit crisis.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- After two weeks of contentious and often emotional debate, the federal government's far-reaching and historic plan to bail out the nation's financial system was signed into law by President Bush on Friday afternoon.
"By coming together on this legislation, we have acted boldly to prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country," Bush said less than an hour after the House voted 263 to 171 to pass the bill.
The House vote followed a strong lobbying push by the White House and other supporters of the bill. The House rejected a similar measure on Monday - a defeat that shocked the markets and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle.
The law, which allows the Treasury Secretary to purchase as much as $700 billion in troubled assets in a bid to kick-start lending, ushers in one of the most far-reaching interventions in the economy since the Great Depression.
That's 700, 000, 000, 000 AT ONE TIME. Nothing to say how many times this can be done, no expiration date. N_O_T_H_I_N_G.
House Roll Call: How they voted on bailout bill
U.S. Stocks Drop as Recession Concern Outweighs Bailout Passage
Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks slid, capping the worst week for the Standard & Poor's 500 Index since the 2001 terrorist attacks, on concern the $700 billion bank bailout isn't enough to unlock credit markets and prevent a recession.
Now, wait a minute. Weren't we told the real reason we needed the bailout was not just to rescue these companies, but to reassure investors and stop the stock market from sliding?
Wells Fargo, not Citi, to buy Wachovia
NEW YORK: In a stunning reversal, Wachovia said Friday that it planned to be acquired by a rival bank, Wells Fargo, for about $15.1 billion in stock.
The announcement came four days after Citigroup believed that it had cemented a deal with Wachovia to buy most of its banking operations for $1 a share, or $2.2 billion, in a deal brokered by federal regulators. With Wachovia on the brink of collapse, the government agreed to cover any losses above $42 billion, an indication of the urgency of regulators to get a deal done.
But Wachovia has now apparently rejected Citigroup in favor of Wells Fargo in a deal that calls for Wells Fargo to buy all of Wachovia for $7 a share and requires no assistance from the federal government. Wachovia customer deposits would be protected in both deals.
California May Ask U.S. for Loan
LOS ANGELES — California, the nation’s most populous state and the world’s sixth-biggest economy, has warned the Treasury Department that it may need a $7 billion emergency loan from the federal government because it is running out of cash and has not been able to borrow more.
State officials said they hoped that the $700 billion federal bailout of the financial system approved by the House of Representatives on Friday would help open credit markets that have balked at providing the kind of short-term financing California and other states and local governments routinely rely on to keep operating.
But Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said at a news conference on Friday that the state “is not out of the woods yet” and in a few weeks could run out of cash to pay for basic services.
159,000 Jobs Lost in September, the Worst Month in Five Years
The American economy lost 159,000 jobs in September, the worst month of retrenchment in five years, the government reported on Friday, amplifying fears that an already painful downturn had entered a more severe stage that could persist well into next year.
Employment has diminished for nine consecutive months, eliminating 760,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department’s report. And that does not count the traumatic events of recent weeks, as a string of Wall Street institutions collapsed, prompting the $700 billion emergency rescue package approved by Congress on Friday.
“It’s a dismal report, and the worst thing about it is that it does not reflect the recent seizure that we’ve seen in the credit markets,” said Michael T. Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners, a research and trading firm in Greenwich, Conn. “There’s really nothing good about this report at all. We’ve lost jobs in nearly every area of the economy, and this is going to get worse before it gets better because the credit markets have deteriorated basically on a daily basis for the last few weeks.”
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Rights Groups Say South Ossetian Militias Burning Georgian Villages
In ethnic-Georgian villages across South Ossetia, the stories are disturbingly similar. Paramilitary irregulars roll into town, pack their cars and trucks with anything and everything of value, burn all the houses to the ground, and move on.
Nadia Terashvili, a resident of the Georgian enclave of Beloti, had heard what happened to nearby villages, and knew what to expect when South Ossetian militias showed up. After a harrowing escape from the smoldering ruins of what was once her hometown, Terashvili ended up with other internally displaced persons in the city of Gori.
...
Human rights advocates who have been monitoring the situation in the pro-Moscow separatist region since the conflict ended say stories like Terashvili's, combined with satellite images, show that the destruction of Georgian villages in South Ossetia is methodical and organized.
"For a month we have observed the systematic destruction of houses in Georgian enclaves and villages in South Ossetia," says Tatyana Lokshina, a Russia researcher with Human Rights Watch (HRW).
S. Korea to import 7.5 mln tons of natural gas per year from Russia
SEOUL, Sept 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to import 7.5 million tons of Russian natural gas per year beginning in 2015 via a pipeline running through North Korea to ensure a steady supply of fuel for the resource-strapped country, the government said Monday.
The preliminary deal reached in Moscow on the sidelines of the South Korea-Russian summit meeting is expected to be the largest single bilateral economic cooperation project between the two countries, valued at more thanUS$100 billion, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.
"Under the deal signed by Korea Gas Corp. and Gazprom, 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be imported every year for 30 years," said Vice Energy Minister Lee Jae-hoon.
Russia Hopes To Deploy New Nuclear Missile Next Year
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia hopes to deploy a new submarine-launched nuclear missile next year, underlining Moscow's determination to upgrade its nuclear strike forces, a senior defense official has been quoted as saying.
EU Says South Ossetia Likely Closed To Monitors
TBILISI (Reuters) -- The head of the European Union's monitoring mission to Georgia has said it would be unrealistic to expect Russian forces to grant the monitors access to breakaway South Ossetia in the near future.
German diplomat Hansjoerg Haber told Reuters the cease-fire monitors would try to deal with the South Ossetian police to make the de facto border more "porous" for trade and to mediate between police on either side.
Gunmen in Mexico steal suspected drug planes
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Police in Mexico say 20 heavily armed men have stolen five small planes that the army seized in anti-drug operations.
The federal Attorney General's office said in a statement Tuesday that the gunmen tied up a local police officer who was guarding the aircraft in the Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa.
David Kay: Iran 2-5 years from building bomb
Iran is two years to five years away from being able to produce a nuclear weapon, the former head of the US weapons-hunting team in Iraq said Wednesday. But David Kay said the US should not consider bombing Iranian nuclear facilities unless the weapon was about to be transferred to a terrorist group.
Kay, who led the Iraq Survey Group from 2003 until early 2004, said the US should line up international support to pressure Iran to give up on a nuclear weapon, while also preparing for the strong possibility that effort will fail. Preparations could include offering security guarantees to Iran's neighbors and shoring up Middle East stability and economic growth.
Iran Seeks to Build $4 bln Gas Pipeline to Europe
Iran is seeking to build a $4 billion natural-gas pipeline to the European Union that may rival projects backed by the EU and Russia. Iran in talks with a ""renowned European company"" that may operate the so-called Pars Pipeline, Deputy Oil Minister Akbar Torkan said in an interview in Tehran today.
""Surely, European countries are thinking about creating a lifeline in addition to Russia,"" Torkan said. ""Countries that believe buying gas from Iran is important enough and that dont want to be manipulated by others will collaborate.""
India, France sign nuclear deal
India and France have signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, which will allow the sale of civilian nuclear technology to Delhi.
The agreement marks a key step in India's bid to boost its nuclear program.
It currently has 22 reactors, but faces a critical shortage of energy to supply the economy.
US approves Indian nuclear deal
The US Senate has approved a nuclear deal with India, ending a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with Delhi.
The 86-13 vote was the last legislative hurdle in a process that began when an agreement was reached in 2005.
The deal will give India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities.
Blasts in Crowded India Market Kill 2, Injure at Least 100
GAUHATI, India — A series of blasts exploded in crowded markets in India's remote northeast on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring at least 100.
The first of four blasts went off at 7:30 p.m. when markets in Agartala, the state capital of Tripura, were packed with shoppers during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr and ahead of a Hindu holiday on Thursday.
Three more blasts went off at nearby markets over the next 90 minutes, said senior police official Shreyesh.
Scores killed in stampede at Indian temple
JODHPUR, India: At least 147 people died in a stampede Tuesday at a temple in Rajasthan State as Hindus gathered to begin one of the most important religious festivals of the year, the police said.
A handful of people fell while climbing a steep slope toward the Chamunda temple, which is inside a hilltop fort near Jodhpur, triggering the stampede and the crush, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.
Officials said the crowds at the temple were especially large Tuesday, as pilgrims gathered for the start of Navratri, a nine-day festival. Estimates put the size of the crowd between 12,000 and 20,000.
Spain finds biggest migrant boat
Spanish coastguards have rescued 230 Africans - in what is thought to be the largest single boatload of illegal immigrants to reach Spain.
Coastguards brought the migrants ashore after the open-top fishing vessel was spotted by a rescue plane 80km (50 miles) off the Canary Islands.
Spanish officials believe the migrants spent four days at sea, after setting out from Mauritania in West Africa.
Island wait for boat people
THE first boatload of people to be intercepted off Australia's coast by the Rudd Government arrived at Christmas Island yesterday, but the lack of detail on the detainees has drawn accusations of secrecy from the Opposition.
The navy detected a boat with 11 male passengers, one female passenger and two crewmen off Ashmore Reef on Monday. The group was transferred to Australia's detention facility in the Indian Ocean by Customs.
Israel to purchase 25 new Lockheed jets
The US Government on Tuesday said it approved the sale to Israel of 25 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft built by Lockheed Martin Corp and an option for 50 more in coming years – a deal valued at up to $15.2 billion.
The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which oversees major arms sales, said the deal is vital to US national security interests to assist Israel as it develops and maintains "a strong and ready self-defense capability."
Israel needs the aircraft to enhance its air-to-air and air-to-ground defense, the agency said.
PA, Hamas mutually release prisoners
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday ordered the release of 40 Hamas members from PA prisons in the West Bank as a "goodwill gesture" to the Islamic movement on the occasion of the Muslim feast of Id al-Fitr.
The decision came two days after Hamas released 30 Fatah members who were being held in its prisons in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas government said that move was also a "goodwill gesture" for the Muslim holiday.
The release of the Hamas and Fatah prisoners is likely to pave the way for the resumption of reconciliation talks between the two parties in Cairo early next month.
Congo rebel 'to expand rebellion'
Renegade Congolese General Laurent Nkunda has told the BBC he is now fighting to "liberate" the whole of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Until now, he had always claimed to be protecting his Tutsi people against Rwandan Hutu armed groups in the east.
Gen Nkunda said he was walking out of a January peace deal. Recent fighting between his troops and the army has led more than 100,000 people to flee.
National Grid says power prices may rise sharply
National Grid has given warning that there could be further sharp rises in electricity prices this winter amid mounting fears that Britain is facing a supply squeeze.
The power grid operator said that the loss of a number of key power stations for maintenance meant that the cushion of spare generating capacity is tight, particularly next month.
In an annual report intended to help big energy users to plan for winter, National Grid insisted that there would be enough power to meet overall demand. However, it noted that wholesale electricity prices might have to rise still higher from current record levels to encourage the operators of spare plants to bring on emergency capacity during peak demand periods.
European bank rescue plan in tatters amid savings stampede
Plans for a pan-European response to the global financial crisis lay in tatters last night as Greece followed Ireland in unilaterally guaranteeing all bank deposits.
Amid reports that Greek depositors were rushing to withdraw their savings, Greece's Cabinet agreed to protect all deposits whatever their size. Previously the maximum guaranteed was €20,000 (£15,600).
A proposal by President Sarkozy of France to create a European €300 billion bailout fund also collapsed, leaving attempts on this side of the Atlantic to calm investor panic and lubricate the money markets in chaos.
U.S. Officials Say Three Somali Pirates Dead After Shoot Out During Muslim Feast
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Disagreements between Somali pirates holding a ship laden with tanks and heavy weapons escalated into a shootout and three pirates are believed dead, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday. The pirates denied the report.
The U.S. destroyer USS Howard and several other American ships have surrounded the Ukrainian cargo ship Faina, which was hijacked Thursday and is now anchored off the lawless coast of Somalia. The pirates have demanded a ransom of $20 million and the U.S. Navy cordon aims to prevent them from taking any of the weapons ashore.
EU force to fight Somali pirates
The European Union has agreed to establish an anti-piracy security operation off the coast of Somalia.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin said at least eight countries have agreed to take part.
...
The French announcement was made after a meeting of EU defence ministers at Deauville, in northern France.
"There is very broad European willingness," said Mr Morin. "Many countries want to take part."
"We have (been) given a mandate to continue the planning for the launch of this operation in the month of November."
The announcement came as the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported a further three attempts to seize ships overnight.
Exterminate that Plague of Pirates
SOMALI pirates got a shock last week: The ship they seized carried dozens of Russian-built tanks, along with a wealth of heavy weapons and ammo. It was more than they'd bargained for.
As I write, the Faina sits at anchor off a notorious pirate port, its crew held captive by 30 or more Somalis. US Navy warships circle the vessel. Our helicopters buzz its deck.
We don't want that weaponry falling into terrorist hands. The Somalis lack the facilities to unload 40-ton tanks, but the smaller weapons aboard would delight the local al Qaeda franchise.
But we don't know what to do next. Neither do the pirates, who caught a whale by the tail. We'd like them to drop their $20-million ransom demand. They'd like us to go away. Meanwhile, the pirates may have killed a number of their own for opaque reasons.
Meat must be rationed to four portions a week, says report on climate change
People will have to be rationed to four modest portions of meat and one litre of milk a week if the world is to avoid run-away climate change, a major new report warns.
The report, by the Food Climate Research Network, based at the University of Surrey, also says total food consumption should be reduced, especially "low nutritional value" treats such as alcohol, sweets and chocolates.
Human remains found at site of Steve Fossett plane crash
Search teams scouring the rugged terrain of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains discovered human remains last night in the wreckage of the aircraft flown by the missing adventurer Steve Fossett.
An aerial rescue team found Fossett’s Bellanca aircraft 10,000ft up a mountain after a hiker came across several of the aviator’s belongings in a bush more than a year after the disappeared.
The items included two identity cards, Fossett’s pilot’s licence, and $1,005 (£570) in cash. The hiker, Preston Morrow, 43, who works in a sports shop, said that he did not initially recognise Fossett’s name.
Wolfowitz up to more mischief?
WASHINGTON - Just 15 months after being forced to resign as president of the World Bank over a conflict of interest regarding his professional and personal relationship with his girlfriend, former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz may be involved in another, far more geostrategic conflict of interest.
It involves his dual roles as chairman of the State Department's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) and chairman of the US-Taiwan Business Council. Among the latter's US members are military contractors who have been dying to get the George W Bush administration's approval to sell about US$11 billion worth of arms to the island to protect it against the threat of an attack by the mainland.
In ethnic-Georgian villages across South Ossetia, the stories are disturbingly similar. Paramilitary irregulars roll into town, pack their cars and trucks with anything and everything of value, burn all the houses to the ground, and move on.
Nadia Terashvili, a resident of the Georgian enclave of Beloti, had heard what happened to nearby villages, and knew what to expect when South Ossetian militias showed up. After a harrowing escape from the smoldering ruins of what was once her hometown, Terashvili ended up with other internally displaced persons in the city of Gori.
...
Human rights advocates who have been monitoring the situation in the pro-Moscow separatist region since the conflict ended say stories like Terashvili's, combined with satellite images, show that the destruction of Georgian villages in South Ossetia is methodical and organized.
"For a month we have observed the systematic destruction of houses in Georgian enclaves and villages in South Ossetia," says Tatyana Lokshina, a Russia researcher with Human Rights Watch (HRW).
S. Korea to import 7.5 mln tons of natural gas per year from Russia
SEOUL, Sept 30 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to import 7.5 million tons of Russian natural gas per year beginning in 2015 via a pipeline running through North Korea to ensure a steady supply of fuel for the resource-strapped country, the government said Monday.
The preliminary deal reached in Moscow on the sidelines of the South Korea-Russian summit meeting is expected to be the largest single bilateral economic cooperation project between the two countries, valued at more thanUS$100 billion, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said.
"Under the deal signed by Korea Gas Corp. and Gazprom, 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be imported every year for 30 years," said Vice Energy Minister Lee Jae-hoon.
Russia Hopes To Deploy New Nuclear Missile Next Year
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Russia hopes to deploy a new submarine-launched nuclear missile next year, underlining Moscow's determination to upgrade its nuclear strike forces, a senior defense official has been quoted as saying.
EU Says South Ossetia Likely Closed To Monitors
TBILISI (Reuters) -- The head of the European Union's monitoring mission to Georgia has said it would be unrealistic to expect Russian forces to grant the monitors access to breakaway South Ossetia in the near future.
German diplomat Hansjoerg Haber told Reuters the cease-fire monitors would try to deal with the South Ossetian police to make the de facto border more "porous" for trade and to mediate between police on either side.
Gunmen in Mexico steal suspected drug planes
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Police in Mexico say 20 heavily armed men have stolen five small planes that the army seized in anti-drug operations.
The federal Attorney General's office said in a statement Tuesday that the gunmen tied up a local police officer who was guarding the aircraft in the Pacific Coast state of Sinaloa.
David Kay: Iran 2-5 years from building bomb
Iran is two years to five years away from being able to produce a nuclear weapon, the former head of the US weapons-hunting team in Iraq said Wednesday. But David Kay said the US should not consider bombing Iranian nuclear facilities unless the weapon was about to be transferred to a terrorist group.
Kay, who led the Iraq Survey Group from 2003 until early 2004, said the US should line up international support to pressure Iran to give up on a nuclear weapon, while also preparing for the strong possibility that effort will fail. Preparations could include offering security guarantees to Iran's neighbors and shoring up Middle East stability and economic growth.
Iran Seeks to Build $4 bln Gas Pipeline to Europe
Iran is seeking to build a $4 billion natural-gas pipeline to the European Union that may rival projects backed by the EU and Russia. Iran in talks with a ""renowned European company"" that may operate the so-called Pars Pipeline, Deputy Oil Minister Akbar Torkan said in an interview in Tehran today.
""Surely, European countries are thinking about creating a lifeline in addition to Russia,"" Torkan said. ""Countries that believe buying gas from Iran is important enough and that dont want to be manipulated by others will collaborate.""
India, France sign nuclear deal
India and France have signed a nuclear cooperation agreement, which will allow the sale of civilian nuclear technology to Delhi.
The agreement marks a key step in India's bid to boost its nuclear program.
It currently has 22 reactors, but faces a critical shortage of energy to supply the economy.
US approves Indian nuclear deal
The US Senate has approved a nuclear deal with India, ending a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with Delhi.
The 86-13 vote was the last legislative hurdle in a process that began when an agreement was reached in 2005.
The deal will give India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities.
Blasts in Crowded India Market Kill 2, Injure at Least 100
GAUHATI, India — A series of blasts exploded in crowded markets in India's remote northeast on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring at least 100.
The first of four blasts went off at 7:30 p.m. when markets in Agartala, the state capital of Tripura, were packed with shoppers during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr and ahead of a Hindu holiday on Thursday.
Three more blasts went off at nearby markets over the next 90 minutes, said senior police official Shreyesh.
Scores killed in stampede at Indian temple
JODHPUR, India: At least 147 people died in a stampede Tuesday at a temple in Rajasthan State as Hindus gathered to begin one of the most important religious festivals of the year, the police said.
A handful of people fell while climbing a steep slope toward the Chamunda temple, which is inside a hilltop fort near Jodhpur, triggering the stampede and the crush, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.
Officials said the crowds at the temple were especially large Tuesday, as pilgrims gathered for the start of Navratri, a nine-day festival. Estimates put the size of the crowd between 12,000 and 20,000.
Spain finds biggest migrant boat
Spanish coastguards have rescued 230 Africans - in what is thought to be the largest single boatload of illegal immigrants to reach Spain.
Coastguards brought the migrants ashore after the open-top fishing vessel was spotted by a rescue plane 80km (50 miles) off the Canary Islands.
Spanish officials believe the migrants spent four days at sea, after setting out from Mauritania in West Africa.
Island wait for boat people
THE first boatload of people to be intercepted off Australia's coast by the Rudd Government arrived at Christmas Island yesterday, but the lack of detail on the detainees has drawn accusations of secrecy from the Opposition.
The navy detected a boat with 11 male passengers, one female passenger and two crewmen off Ashmore Reef on Monday. The group was transferred to Australia's detention facility in the Indian Ocean by Customs.
Israel to purchase 25 new Lockheed jets
The US Government on Tuesday said it approved the sale to Israel of 25 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft built by Lockheed Martin Corp and an option for 50 more in coming years – a deal valued at up to $15.2 billion.
The Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which oversees major arms sales, said the deal is vital to US national security interests to assist Israel as it develops and maintains "a strong and ready self-defense capability."
Israel needs the aircraft to enhance its air-to-air and air-to-ground defense, the agency said.
PA, Hamas mutually release prisoners
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday ordered the release of 40 Hamas members from PA prisons in the West Bank as a "goodwill gesture" to the Islamic movement on the occasion of the Muslim feast of Id al-Fitr.
The decision came two days after Hamas released 30 Fatah members who were being held in its prisons in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas government said that move was also a "goodwill gesture" for the Muslim holiday.
The release of the Hamas and Fatah prisoners is likely to pave the way for the resumption of reconciliation talks between the two parties in Cairo early next month.
Congo rebel 'to expand rebellion'
Renegade Congolese General Laurent Nkunda has told the BBC he is now fighting to "liberate" the whole of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Until now, he had always claimed to be protecting his Tutsi people against Rwandan Hutu armed groups in the east.
Gen Nkunda said he was walking out of a January peace deal. Recent fighting between his troops and the army has led more than 100,000 people to flee.
National Grid says power prices may rise sharply
National Grid has given warning that there could be further sharp rises in electricity prices this winter amid mounting fears that Britain is facing a supply squeeze.
The power grid operator said that the loss of a number of key power stations for maintenance meant that the cushion of spare generating capacity is tight, particularly next month.
In an annual report intended to help big energy users to plan for winter, National Grid insisted that there would be enough power to meet overall demand. However, it noted that wholesale electricity prices might have to rise still higher from current record levels to encourage the operators of spare plants to bring on emergency capacity during peak demand periods.
European bank rescue plan in tatters amid savings stampede
Plans for a pan-European response to the global financial crisis lay in tatters last night as Greece followed Ireland in unilaterally guaranteeing all bank deposits.
Amid reports that Greek depositors were rushing to withdraw their savings, Greece's Cabinet agreed to protect all deposits whatever their size. Previously the maximum guaranteed was €20,000 (£15,600).
A proposal by President Sarkozy of France to create a European €300 billion bailout fund also collapsed, leaving attempts on this side of the Atlantic to calm investor panic and lubricate the money markets in chaos.
U.S. Officials Say Three Somali Pirates Dead After Shoot Out During Muslim Feast
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Disagreements between Somali pirates holding a ship laden with tanks and heavy weapons escalated into a shootout and three pirates are believed dead, a U.S. defense official said Tuesday. The pirates denied the report.
The U.S. destroyer USS Howard and several other American ships have surrounded the Ukrainian cargo ship Faina, which was hijacked Thursday and is now anchored off the lawless coast of Somalia. The pirates have demanded a ransom of $20 million and the U.S. Navy cordon aims to prevent them from taking any of the weapons ashore.
EU force to fight Somali pirates
The European Union has agreed to establish an anti-piracy security operation off the coast of Somalia.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin said at least eight countries have agreed to take part.
...
The French announcement was made after a meeting of EU defence ministers at Deauville, in northern France.
"There is very broad European willingness," said Mr Morin. "Many countries want to take part."
"We have (been) given a mandate to continue the planning for the launch of this operation in the month of November."
The announcement came as the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) reported a further three attempts to seize ships overnight.
Exterminate that Plague of Pirates
SOMALI pirates got a shock last week: The ship they seized carried dozens of Russian-built tanks, along with a wealth of heavy weapons and ammo. It was more than they'd bargained for.
As I write, the Faina sits at anchor off a notorious pirate port, its crew held captive by 30 or more Somalis. US Navy warships circle the vessel. Our helicopters buzz its deck.
We don't want that weaponry falling into terrorist hands. The Somalis lack the facilities to unload 40-ton tanks, but the smaller weapons aboard would delight the local al Qaeda franchise.
But we don't know what to do next. Neither do the pirates, who caught a whale by the tail. We'd like them to drop their $20-million ransom demand. They'd like us to go away. Meanwhile, the pirates may have killed a number of their own for opaque reasons.
Meat must be rationed to four portions a week, says report on climate change
People will have to be rationed to four modest portions of meat and one litre of milk a week if the world is to avoid run-away climate change, a major new report warns.
The report, by the Food Climate Research Network, based at the University of Surrey, also says total food consumption should be reduced, especially "low nutritional value" treats such as alcohol, sweets and chocolates.
Human remains found at site of Steve Fossett plane crash
Search teams scouring the rugged terrain of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains discovered human remains last night in the wreckage of the aircraft flown by the missing adventurer Steve Fossett.
An aerial rescue team found Fossett’s Bellanca aircraft 10,000ft up a mountain after a hiker came across several of the aviator’s belongings in a bush more than a year after the disappeared.
The items included two identity cards, Fossett’s pilot’s licence, and $1,005 (£570) in cash. The hiker, Preston Morrow, 43, who works in a sports shop, said that he did not initially recognise Fossett’s name.
Wolfowitz up to more mischief?
WASHINGTON - Just 15 months after being forced to resign as president of the World Bank over a conflict of interest regarding his professional and personal relationship with his girlfriend, former deputy defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz may be involved in another, far more geostrategic conflict of interest.
It involves his dual roles as chairman of the State Department's International Security Advisory Board (ISAB) and chairman of the US-Taiwan Business Council. Among the latter's US members are military contractors who have been dying to get the George W Bush administration's approval to sell about US$11 billion worth of arms to the island to protect it against the threat of an attack by the mainland.
Locusts hatching earlier than expected in NSW
Plague locusts have begun hatching in south west New South Wales, at least a week earlier than expected.
The Department of Primary Industries has warned farmers to be on the alert for hatching locusts after swarms were reported across the Riverina and Central West in autumn.
30 Algerians die in flash floods
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Torrential rains in the Algerian Sahara caused flash floods that killed 30 people and injured dozens in a historic oasis region, officials in the North African nation said Thursday.
Hundreds of people had to be rescued by helicopter and up to 600 houses were destroyed in the rains Tuesday and Wednesday around the medieval town of Ghardaia, the official APS news agency said. Security services and the military were helping in the rescue operations.
The country's head of public health, Ali Belkhir, told national radio that 29 people had died. But the region's governor said 30 were counted dead by late Thursday, said APS.
Lake Kinneret drops to lowest ever recorded water level
The past year has seen the sharpest drop in the water level of the Kinneret since measurements were first recorded, according to data the Water Authority published on Thursday.
Having fallen two meters over the past year, today the level of the Kinneret stands at 214.06 meters below sea level, more than a meter from the lowest red line.
The Water Authority revealed that the level is advancing at a disturbing speed towards the black line, emphasizing that the Kinneret is 5.26 meters from the highest red line.
Since Spring, 2004, the level of the Kinneret has dropped more than five meters which is about 850 million cubic meters of water, more than the amount of water consumed annually by Israel.
NASA MODIS Image of the Day: September 29, 2008 - Aral Sea, 2000-2008
A Soviet-era plan to turn the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan into fertile cropland resulted in the near-total diversion of the water that once fed the Aral Sea.
Uzbekistan: Harvest by force
The use of school-students to pick cotton further tarnishes the reputation of Islam Karimov's repressive state, says Andrew Stroehlein.
...
This is not their choice or even a poverty-driven decision made by desperate families trying to make ends meet. This is a top-down government policy: the authorities close the classrooms, they put the children on buses, and they give them a police escort to the fields. Repeated regime pledges to end the practice have come to naught: even as the Uzbek government announced a ban on child-labor on 15 September 2008, children were already in the fields, picking cotton under compulsion.
Dog Recovering After Shark Attack
Jake the Rat Terrier Saved After Owner Punches Shark
Health alert Chicken Pox hits Accra (Ghana)
An unusual outbreak of chicken pox is being experienced in the Accra metropolis this year, according to a Times survey. The survey, conducted in six medical centres, including three hospitals and three polyclinics, revealed that about 600 cases have been reported in the first quarter of the year. Last year, 356 cases were reported during the same period at hospitals and clinics located in three sub-metros of Ayawaso, Kpeshie and Okaikoi within the Accra metropolitan area.
Whooping cough outbreak leaves baby seriously ill (Australia)
A SMALL baby from Barkers Vale, north of Nimbin, was last night clinging to life at the Brisbane Royal Children's Hospital after contracting whooping cough in what health officials are describing as the region's worst outbreak.
...
Melody's struggle with the potentially fatal illness comes as health officials blame low immunisation rates for a whooping cough outbreak four times worse than any previously recorded on the North Coast.
Of 500 cases reported in the outbreak, 89 were in children aged younger than four, North Coast Public Health director Paul Corben said. Of the children who fell ill, 53 were not vaccinated.
Michigan E. coli case count continues to rise
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The number of confirmed E. coli sickness cases continues to climb in Michigan. The state Department of Community Health says Monday that 30 cases with the same DNA fingerprinting have been identified.
Teen fights for life after E. coli outbreak
The Oklahoma State Department of Health says more than 300 people have become ill from the outbreak. Experts are still working to determine the cause and are now analyzing some additional data.
While the department says the outbreak is over, the effects of it are still taking a toll on some. 13-year-old Lexy Morton was hospitalized due to E. coli for five weeks.
More gastro hits Riverina (Australia)
THE number of people struck down by gastroenteritis in the Riverina has climbed above 50, with a new outbreak reported yesterday. The latest victims are eight residents and a staff member from a nursing home in Young, which is in lockdown and not accepting any visitors to prevent the illness spreading.
Over 1000 dengue cases reported
Update: 10:44AM Fiji has on record more than 1000 people suffering from dengue fever following an outbreak with the past three weeks.
Interim Health Minister, Dr Jiko Luveni speaking at the 59th session of the Regional Committee Meeting in Manila, Philippines yesterday, said dengue is a disease that attracts attention only when there is an outbreak and is labelled as a neglected disease.
Number of Cholera Cases in Iraq Nearly Doubles
BAGHDAD, 28 September 2008 (IRIN) - More than 300 confirmed cholera cases have been registered in central and southern Iraq since an outbreak began on 20 August, with almost 50 percent of the cases occurring in the past week, the health ministry's cholera unit has said. "The number of cholera cases has reached 327 in nine provinces: Babil 200 cases, Baghdad 61 cases, Basra 29 cases, Karbala 26 cases, Anbar four cases, Najaf three cases, Diwaniya two cases, Diyala one case and Maysan one case," said Ihsan Jaafar, director-general of the public health directorate and spokesman for the ministry's cholera control unit.
Plague locusts have begun hatching in south west New South Wales, at least a week earlier than expected.
The Department of Primary Industries has warned farmers to be on the alert for hatching locusts after swarms were reported across the Riverina and Central West in autumn.
30 Algerians die in flash floods
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Torrential rains in the Algerian Sahara caused flash floods that killed 30 people and injured dozens in a historic oasis region, officials in the North African nation said Thursday.
Hundreds of people had to be rescued by helicopter and up to 600 houses were destroyed in the rains Tuesday and Wednesday around the medieval town of Ghardaia, the official APS news agency said. Security services and the military were helping in the rescue operations.
The country's head of public health, Ali Belkhir, told national radio that 29 people had died. But the region's governor said 30 were counted dead by late Thursday, said APS.
Lake Kinneret drops to lowest ever recorded water level
The past year has seen the sharpest drop in the water level of the Kinneret since measurements were first recorded, according to data the Water Authority published on Thursday.
Having fallen two meters over the past year, today the level of the Kinneret stands at 214.06 meters below sea level, more than a meter from the lowest red line.
The Water Authority revealed that the level is advancing at a disturbing speed towards the black line, emphasizing that the Kinneret is 5.26 meters from the highest red line.
Since Spring, 2004, the level of the Kinneret has dropped more than five meters which is about 850 million cubic meters of water, more than the amount of water consumed annually by Israel.
NASA MODIS Image of the Day: September 29, 2008 - Aral Sea, 2000-2008
A Soviet-era plan to turn the arid plains of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan into fertile cropland resulted in the near-total diversion of the water that once fed the Aral Sea.
Uzbekistan: Harvest by force
The use of school-students to pick cotton further tarnishes the reputation of Islam Karimov's repressive state, says Andrew Stroehlein.
...
This is not their choice or even a poverty-driven decision made by desperate families trying to make ends meet. This is a top-down government policy: the authorities close the classrooms, they put the children on buses, and they give them a police escort to the fields. Repeated regime pledges to end the practice have come to naught: even as the Uzbek government announced a ban on child-labor on 15 September 2008, children were already in the fields, picking cotton under compulsion.
Dog Recovering After Shark Attack
Jake the Rat Terrier Saved After Owner Punches Shark
Health alert Chicken Pox hits Accra (Ghana)
An unusual outbreak of chicken pox is being experienced in the Accra metropolis this year, according to a Times survey. The survey, conducted in six medical centres, including three hospitals and three polyclinics, revealed that about 600 cases have been reported in the first quarter of the year. Last year, 356 cases were reported during the same period at hospitals and clinics located in three sub-metros of Ayawaso, Kpeshie and Okaikoi within the Accra metropolitan area.
Whooping cough outbreak leaves baby seriously ill (Australia)
A SMALL baby from Barkers Vale, north of Nimbin, was last night clinging to life at the Brisbane Royal Children's Hospital after contracting whooping cough in what health officials are describing as the region's worst outbreak.
...
Melody's struggle with the potentially fatal illness comes as health officials blame low immunisation rates for a whooping cough outbreak four times worse than any previously recorded on the North Coast.
Of 500 cases reported in the outbreak, 89 were in children aged younger than four, North Coast Public Health director Paul Corben said. Of the children who fell ill, 53 were not vaccinated.
Michigan E. coli case count continues to rise
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The number of confirmed E. coli sickness cases continues to climb in Michigan. The state Department of Community Health says Monday that 30 cases with the same DNA fingerprinting have been identified.
Teen fights for life after E. coli outbreak
The Oklahoma State Department of Health says more than 300 people have become ill from the outbreak. Experts are still working to determine the cause and are now analyzing some additional data.
While the department says the outbreak is over, the effects of it are still taking a toll on some. 13-year-old Lexy Morton was hospitalized due to E. coli for five weeks.
More gastro hits Riverina (Australia)
THE number of people struck down by gastroenteritis in the Riverina has climbed above 50, with a new outbreak reported yesterday. The latest victims are eight residents and a staff member from a nursing home in Young, which is in lockdown and not accepting any visitors to prevent the illness spreading.
Over 1000 dengue cases reported
Update: 10:44AM Fiji has on record more than 1000 people suffering from dengue fever following an outbreak with the past three weeks.
Interim Health Minister, Dr Jiko Luveni speaking at the 59th session of the Regional Committee Meeting in Manila, Philippines yesterday, said dengue is a disease that attracts attention only when there is an outbreak and is labelled as a neglected disease.
Number of Cholera Cases in Iraq Nearly Doubles
BAGHDAD, 28 September 2008 (IRIN) - More than 300 confirmed cholera cases have been registered in central and southern Iraq since an outbreak began on 20 August, with almost 50 percent of the cases occurring in the past week, the health ministry's cholera unit has said. "The number of cholera cases has reached 327 in nine provinces: Babil 200 cases, Baghdad 61 cases, Basra 29 cases, Karbala 26 cases, Anbar four cases, Najaf three cases, Diwaniya two cases, Diyala one case and Maysan one case," said Ihsan Jaafar, director-general of the public health directorate and spokesman for the ministry's cholera control unit.
Magnitude 3.2 - NORTHERN ALGERIA
2008 September 30 03:28:35 UTC
2008 September 30 03:28:35 UTC
2008 September 30 04:05:18 UTC
Magnitude 4.5 - WESTERN TURKEY
2008 September 30 07:30:02 UTC
Magnitude 4.3 - NORTHERN COLOMBIA
2008 September 30 07:57:35 UTC
Magnitude 2.6 - SOUTHEASTERN MISSOURI
2008 October 01 04:37:02 UTC
Magnitude 4.8 - FIJI REGION
2008 October 01 06:19:49 UTC
Moderate Quake Felt In Fiji
Magnitude 5.1 - NORTHEAST OF TAIWAN
2008 October 01 07:34:47 UTC
Magnitude 5.7 - IZU ISLANDS, JAPAN REGION
2008 October 01 09:38:11 UTC
Magnitude 4.6 - LAKE VICTORIA REGION, UGANDA
2008 October 01 14:15:53 UTC
Magnitude 5.1 - MAULE, CHILE
2008 October 01 17:03:47 UTC
Moderate quake rocks southern, central Chile
Magnitude 5.3 - MINDORO, PHILIPPINES
2008 October 01 18:04:28 UTC
Magnitude 5.1 - MINDORO, PHILIPPINES
2008 October 01 18:06:53 UTC
Magnitude 5.0 - VANUATU
2008 October 02 01:04:05 UTC
An earthquake in Vanuatu
Magnitude 4.8 - MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
2008 October 02 01:25:44 UTC
Quake hits Philippines
Magnitude 4.8 - SPAIN
2008 October 02 04:02:54 UTC
Earthquake measuring 4.7 on the Richter scale shakes Andalucía
Magnitude 2.9 - ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY REG., QUEBEC, CANADA
2008 October 02 04:10:24 UTC
Magnitude 5.2 - TONGA
2008 October 02 04:16:08 UTC
Magnitude 4.1 - SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
2008 October 02 09:41:49 UTC
Earthquake with 4.1 magnitude hits Calif.
Magnitude 5.2 - KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
2008 October 02 13:03:02 UTC
Magnitude 6.1 - SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS
2008 October 02 23:28:09 UTC
Well, the House declined to push through that 'crap snadwich' of a bailot Monday and stocks plunged.
Tuesday they rebounded.
Wednesday stocks slipped a bit. Senate passed the bailout by attaching it to a spending bill they already had. (how they voted)
Today stocks fell. Again.
Isn't that what this stinkin' bill was supposed to prevent?
***
Europe catches what's ailing U.S. financial sector
WASHINGTON: Barely a week after Europeans rebuffed American pleas to join in their bailout of the banking system, Europe now faces a financial crisis almost as grave as that in the United States — demonstrating how swiftly this contagion is spreading around the world.
In the last two days, governments from Dublin to Berlin have seized or bailed out five faltering banks. In Ireland, where rumors of panicked withdrawals from banks spooked the stock market, the government has offered a two-year blanket guarantee on all deposits and bank debt.
Asia has been less buffeted by the turmoil, though a brief run on a bank in Hong Kong last week brought back dark memories of June 1997, when speculation against the Thai currency sparked a financial crisis that fanned rapidly across Asia, and later to Brazil and Russia.
Economists see a parallel between these two crises a decade apart: once creditors panic and begin to pull out their holdings, the underlying health of banks — or entire countries — no longer matters a great deal. In a global financial system, national borders are porous.
America’s Nervous Breakdown
Should it continue, a world breakdown may follow.
...
Even though the U.S. government rushed to restore trust, hundreds of billions of dollars in paper assets simply vanished. Friends and enemies abroad were unsure whether the irregular American heartbeat was a major coronary or a mere cardiac murmur. How strong — really — was the world’s greatest economy? Was this panic the tab for years of borrowing abroad for out-of-control consumer spending? Had America finally gone too far enriching dictators by buying energy that it either could not or would not produce itself? Had the chickens of lavishing rewards on Wall Street and Washington speculators rather than Main Street producers finally come home to roost?
...
We’ve seen the connection between American economic crisis and world upheaval before. In the 1930s, the United States and its democratic allies — in the midst of financial collapse — disarmed and largely withdrew from foreign affairs. That isolation allowed totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia to swallow their smaller neighbors and replace the rule of law with that of the jungle. World War II followed.
...
Should that heart of American financial power in New York falter — or even appear to falter — then eventually the sinews of the American military will likewise slacken. And then things could get ugly — real fast.
European Central Bank hints at rate cut
FRANKFURT: Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, on Thursday said that the threat to inflation in the 15-nation euro zone was diminishing, as he struck a new, dark tone about the growth prospects for the region.
Trichet's comments, which came after the ECB left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 4.25 percent, suggested that the bank is likely to cut interest rates later this year, analysts said.
"With the weakening of demand, upside risks to price stability have diminished somewhat, but they have not disappeared," Trichet said.
Fed loans to banks, brokers, AIG totals $410 bln
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Commercial banks, investment banks and American International Group borrowed a record $410 billion from the Federal Reserve as of Wednesday, the Fed reported Thursday. AIG borrowed $61.2 billion, the investment banks and broker-dealers borrowed $146.6 billion, and commercial banks borrowed $49.5 billion, the Fed said. In addition, banks have tapped $152.1 billion to buy asset-backed commercial paper from money market mutual funds.
Inflation pressures recede but still threaten-IMF
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Global inflationary pressures are diminishing, but still pose a danger, especially in emerging and developing economies, with commodity prices likely to remain high and volatile, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.
In new research, the IMF noted commodity prices had declined from their peaks, but are set to remain high by historical standards due to supply constraints and low inventories.
'It is still too early to relax,' Charles Collyns, deputy director of the IMF's research department, told reporters in discussing the research contained in initial chapters of the IMF's World Economic Outlook.
Lloyds-HBOS deal in doubt
The pivotal deal brokered by the government for Lloyds TSB to rescue beleaguered mortgage bank HBOS is in jeopardy tonight after a plunge in the value of HBOS shares. City investors fear that Lloyds is paying too much for the Scottish-based bank because its shares have collapsed since the deal was announced two weeks ago.
Today HBOS, owner of the country's biggest mortgage lender Halifax, was again the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 of leading shares, dropping 13%. HBOS is now worth just £6.4bn but Lloyds TSB has agreed to pay £9.8bn.
The differential in the price has heightened fears that the deal may not go through on the original terms which were agreed after the prime minister intervened to ensure the takeover could proceed.
***
Iraq to take control of Babil from US troops: officials
HILLA, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi security forces will take control of the central Shiite province of Babil within a month, the provincial governor told AFP on Sunday, but warned that armed groups still roam the region.
Salem al-Saleh Meslmawe said security control of Babil, south of Baghdad, would be transferred from mid to late October, making it the 12th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed over by the US-led forces.
"We have discussed with the government and the coalition forces and there is an agreement to transfer security. This will be done within a month," Meslmawe said.
"Security (in Babil) is very good and Iraqi security forces can control it."
The US military had a sprawling base in the historic town of Babylon, just north of Hilla. According to UNESCO, archaeological treasures there suffered serious damage when US forces established the base in 2003.
The Hot Holiday Destination: Iraq?
The way Barack Obama talks of Iraq, you'd think the whole county is a sea of fire and blood, created by the United States. So he might be surprised to learn that tour operators in Europe and the Middle East are touting this "sea of fire and blood" as a new holiday destination.
One program just put on the market by Terre Entiere, a leading French tour operator, offers a "Christmas Pilgrimage" in December to Iraq's biblical sites, some of which date back more than 2,000 years.
Another program starts in January. Called "Forgotten History," it includes visits to some of the most ancient sites of human civilization in Iraq, the ancient Mesopotamia.
"Frankly, we were surprised by the positive echoes we had as soon as we launched our program," says Pierre Simon, a spokesman for the French company marketing the Iraqi holidays. "People from many European countries, not just France, are showing interest. They want to go and see for themselves."
IRAQ: Honeymoon in Baghdad?
Coming soon: a romantic island getaway in the heart of Baghdad! That's the hope, at least, of Iraq's Tourism Board, which held a news conference Sunday to announce an ambitious project to lure investors to build up the capital's Jazirat Al A'ras, a slab of land surrounded by water from the Tigris River.
Before a sometimes skeptical crowd of mainly Iraqi journalists, the head of the tourism board, Hamood Yakoubi, said the resort, whose name translates to Wedding Island, would be modeled on the "One Thousand and One Nights" tales. Not that King Shahryar, Scheherezade, Sinbad or Alladin had Ferris wheels, fast-food restaurants or a water park to entertain them. But Yakoubi and Ahmed Ridha, the chairman of the government's National Investment Commission, said the point was to give visitors a feel for ancient Baghdad while providing five-star service and amenities.
Those amenities would include some things not currently seen in Baghdad, such as special villas for handicapped visitors, an 18-hole golf course and a multi-level shopping mall.
*****
Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis
...
In an earlier post, I noted the liberal record of unmitigated legislative disasters, the latest of which is now being played out in the financial markets before our eyes. Before the 1994 Republican takeover, Democrats had sixty years of virtually unbroken power in Congress - with substantial majorities most of the time. Can a group of smart people, studying issue after issue for years on end, with virtually unlimited resources at their command, not come up with a single policy that works? Why are they chronically incapable?
Why?
One of two things must be true. Either the Democrats are unfathomable idiots, who ignorantly pursue ever more destructive policies despite decades of contrary evidence, or they understand the consequences of their actions and relentlessly carry on anyway because they somehow benefit.
I submit to you they understand the consequences. For many it is simply a practical matter of eliciting votes from a targeted constituency at taxpayer expense; we lose a little, they gain a lot, and the politician keeps his job. But for others, the goal is more malevolent - the failure is deliberate. Don't laugh. This method not only has its proponents, it has a name: the Cloward-Piven Strategy. It describes their agenda, tactics, and long-term strategy.
...
Secret, Foreign Money Floods Into Obama Campaign
Unlike the McCain campaign, which has made its complete donor database available online, the Obama campaign has not identified donors for nearly half the amount he has raised, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).
Federal law does not require the campaigns to identify donors who give less than $200 during the election cycle. However, it does require that campaigns calculate running totals for each donor and report them once they go beyond the $200 mark.
Surprisingly, the great majority of Obama donors never break the $200 threshold.
...
In a letter dated June 25, 2008, the FEC asked the Obama campaign to verify a series of $25 donations from a contributor identified as “Will, Good” from Austin, Texas.
Mr. Good Will listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You.”
A Newsmax analysis of the 1.4 million individual contributions in the latest master file for the Obama campaign discovered 1,000 separate entries for Mr. Good Will, most of them for $25.
In total, Mr. Good Will gave $17,375.
Following this and subsequent FEC requests, campaign records show that 330 contributions from Mr. Good Will were credited back to a credit card. But the most recent report, filed on Sept. 20, showed a net cumulative balance of $8,950 — still well over the $4,600 limit.
...
Tuesday they rebounded.
Wednesday stocks slipped a bit. Senate passed the bailout by attaching it to a spending bill they already had. (how they voted)
Today stocks fell. Again.
Isn't that what this stinkin' bill was supposed to prevent?
***
Europe catches what's ailing U.S. financial sector
WASHINGTON: Barely a week after Europeans rebuffed American pleas to join in their bailout of the banking system, Europe now faces a financial crisis almost as grave as that in the United States — demonstrating how swiftly this contagion is spreading around the world.
In the last two days, governments from Dublin to Berlin have seized or bailed out five faltering banks. In Ireland, where rumors of panicked withdrawals from banks spooked the stock market, the government has offered a two-year blanket guarantee on all deposits and bank debt.
Asia has been less buffeted by the turmoil, though a brief run on a bank in Hong Kong last week brought back dark memories of June 1997, when speculation against the Thai currency sparked a financial crisis that fanned rapidly across Asia, and later to Brazil and Russia.
Economists see a parallel between these two crises a decade apart: once creditors panic and begin to pull out their holdings, the underlying health of banks — or entire countries — no longer matters a great deal. In a global financial system, national borders are porous.
America’s Nervous Breakdown
Should it continue, a world breakdown may follow.
...
Even though the U.S. government rushed to restore trust, hundreds of billions of dollars in paper assets simply vanished. Friends and enemies abroad were unsure whether the irregular American heartbeat was a major coronary or a mere cardiac murmur. How strong — really — was the world’s greatest economy? Was this panic the tab for years of borrowing abroad for out-of-control consumer spending? Had America finally gone too far enriching dictators by buying energy that it either could not or would not produce itself? Had the chickens of lavishing rewards on Wall Street and Washington speculators rather than Main Street producers finally come home to roost?
...
We’ve seen the connection between American economic crisis and world upheaval before. In the 1930s, the United States and its democratic allies — in the midst of financial collapse — disarmed and largely withdrew from foreign affairs. That isolation allowed totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, Japan, and Russia to swallow their smaller neighbors and replace the rule of law with that of the jungle. World War II followed.
...
Should that heart of American financial power in New York falter — or even appear to falter — then eventually the sinews of the American military will likewise slacken. And then things could get ugly — real fast.
European Central Bank hints at rate cut
FRANKFURT: Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, on Thursday said that the threat to inflation in the 15-nation euro zone was diminishing, as he struck a new, dark tone about the growth prospects for the region.
Trichet's comments, which came after the ECB left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 4.25 percent, suggested that the bank is likely to cut interest rates later this year, analysts said.
"With the weakening of demand, upside risks to price stability have diminished somewhat, but they have not disappeared," Trichet said.
Fed loans to banks, brokers, AIG totals $410 bln
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Commercial banks, investment banks and American International Group borrowed a record $410 billion from the Federal Reserve as of Wednesday, the Fed reported Thursday. AIG borrowed $61.2 billion, the investment banks and broker-dealers borrowed $146.6 billion, and commercial banks borrowed $49.5 billion, the Fed said. In addition, banks have tapped $152.1 billion to buy asset-backed commercial paper from money market mutual funds.
Inflation pressures recede but still threaten-IMF
WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Global inflationary pressures are diminishing, but still pose a danger, especially in emerging and developing economies, with commodity prices likely to remain high and volatile, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.
In new research, the IMF noted commodity prices had declined from their peaks, but are set to remain high by historical standards due to supply constraints and low inventories.
'It is still too early to relax,' Charles Collyns, deputy director of the IMF's research department, told reporters in discussing the research contained in initial chapters of the IMF's World Economic Outlook.
Lloyds-HBOS deal in doubt
The pivotal deal brokered by the government for Lloyds TSB to rescue beleaguered mortgage bank HBOS is in jeopardy tonight after a plunge in the value of HBOS shares. City investors fear that Lloyds is paying too much for the Scottish-based bank because its shares have collapsed since the deal was announced two weeks ago.
Today HBOS, owner of the country's biggest mortgage lender Halifax, was again the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 of leading shares, dropping 13%. HBOS is now worth just £6.4bn but Lloyds TSB has agreed to pay £9.8bn.
The differential in the price has heightened fears that the deal may not go through on the original terms which were agreed after the prime minister intervened to ensure the takeover could proceed.
***
Iraq to take control of Babil from US troops: officials
HILLA, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi security forces will take control of the central Shiite province of Babil within a month, the provincial governor told AFP on Sunday, but warned that armed groups still roam the region.
Salem al-Saleh Meslmawe said security control of Babil, south of Baghdad, would be transferred from mid to late October, making it the 12th of Iraq's 18 provinces to be handed over by the US-led forces.
"We have discussed with the government and the coalition forces and there is an agreement to transfer security. This will be done within a month," Meslmawe said.
"Security (in Babil) is very good and Iraqi security forces can control it."
The US military had a sprawling base in the historic town of Babylon, just north of Hilla. According to UNESCO, archaeological treasures there suffered serious damage when US forces established the base in 2003.
The Hot Holiday Destination: Iraq?
The way Barack Obama talks of Iraq, you'd think the whole county is a sea of fire and blood, created by the United States. So he might be surprised to learn that tour operators in Europe and the Middle East are touting this "sea of fire and blood" as a new holiday destination.
One program just put on the market by Terre Entiere, a leading French tour operator, offers a "Christmas Pilgrimage" in December to Iraq's biblical sites, some of which date back more than 2,000 years.
Another program starts in January. Called "Forgotten History," it includes visits to some of the most ancient sites of human civilization in Iraq, the ancient Mesopotamia.
"Frankly, we were surprised by the positive echoes we had as soon as we launched our program," says Pierre Simon, a spokesman for the French company marketing the Iraqi holidays. "People from many European countries, not just France, are showing interest. They want to go and see for themselves."
IRAQ: Honeymoon in Baghdad?
Coming soon: a romantic island getaway in the heart of Baghdad! That's the hope, at least, of Iraq's Tourism Board, which held a news conference Sunday to announce an ambitious project to lure investors to build up the capital's Jazirat Al A'ras, a slab of land surrounded by water from the Tigris River.
Before a sometimes skeptical crowd of mainly Iraqi journalists, the head of the tourism board, Hamood Yakoubi, said the resort, whose name translates to Wedding Island, would be modeled on the "One Thousand and One Nights" tales. Not that King Shahryar, Scheherezade, Sinbad or Alladin had Ferris wheels, fast-food restaurants or a water park to entertain them. But Yakoubi and Ahmed Ridha, the chairman of the government's National Investment Commission, said the point was to give visitors a feel for ancient Baghdad while providing five-star service and amenities.
Those amenities would include some things not currently seen in Baghdad, such as special villas for handicapped visitors, an 18-hole golf course and a multi-level shopping mall.
*****
Barack Obama and the Strategy of Manufactured Crisis
...
In an earlier post, I noted the liberal record of unmitigated legislative disasters, the latest of which is now being played out in the financial markets before our eyes. Before the 1994 Republican takeover, Democrats had sixty years of virtually unbroken power in Congress - with substantial majorities most of the time. Can a group of smart people, studying issue after issue for years on end, with virtually unlimited resources at their command, not come up with a single policy that works? Why are they chronically incapable?
Why?
One of two things must be true. Either the Democrats are unfathomable idiots, who ignorantly pursue ever more destructive policies despite decades of contrary evidence, or they understand the consequences of their actions and relentlessly carry on anyway because they somehow benefit.
I submit to you they understand the consequences. For many it is simply a practical matter of eliciting votes from a targeted constituency at taxpayer expense; we lose a little, they gain a lot, and the politician keeps his job. But for others, the goal is more malevolent - the failure is deliberate. Don't laugh. This method not only has its proponents, it has a name: the Cloward-Piven Strategy. It describes their agenda, tactics, and long-term strategy.
...
Secret, Foreign Money Floods Into Obama Campaign
Unlike the McCain campaign, which has made its complete donor database available online, the Obama campaign has not identified donors for nearly half the amount he has raised, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).
Federal law does not require the campaigns to identify donors who give less than $200 during the election cycle. However, it does require that campaigns calculate running totals for each donor and report them once they go beyond the $200 mark.
Surprisingly, the great majority of Obama donors never break the $200 threshold.
...
In a letter dated June 25, 2008, the FEC asked the Obama campaign to verify a series of $25 donations from a contributor identified as “Will, Good” from Austin, Texas.
Mr. Good Will listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You.”
A Newsmax analysis of the 1.4 million individual contributions in the latest master file for the Obama campaign discovered 1,000 separate entries for Mr. Good Will, most of them for $25.
In total, Mr. Good Will gave $17,375.
Following this and subsequent FEC requests, campaign records show that 330 contributions from Mr. Good Will were credited back to a credit card. But the most recent report, filed on Sept. 20, showed a net cumulative balance of $8,950 — still well over the $4,600 limit.
...
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